Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and former CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday sounded an early bugle for Delhi elections by announcing its first list of 11 candidates, fielding six turncoats from Congress and BJP after dropping three sitting MLAs and choosing nominees for six of eight BJP seats.
The decision on candidates came following a meeting of AAP's Political Affairs Committee chaired by party chief Arvind Kejriwal where leaders sifted through the feedback they received from constituencies following their outreach programmes like 'Aapke Vidhyak Aapke Dwaar' (Your MLA at Your Doorstep'. None of the candidates are sitting MLAs.
The Assembly election in Delhi is scheduled for February and in the 2020 elections, AAP had won 62 seats leaving the rest eight to BJP. Congress did not win a single seat.
While AAP leaders insisted that "electoral viability and winnability" were not the sole criteria and they looked at public service record and their dedication to community, the choice of turncoat leaders who joined the party recently indicated shrewd political calculation on the party of AAP, which is reeling under a credibility crisis following corruption charges.
Three sitting MLAs Rituraj Jha from Kirari, Gulab Singh Yadav from Matiala and Abdul Rahman from Seelampur made way to recent inductees.
Former BJP leader Anil Jha and former Congress leaders Somesh Shokeen, a former MLA, and Zubair Ahmad, son of multiple-term MLA Mateen Ahmed, replaced them respectively.
AAP also announced candidates for Chhattarpur and Seemapuri, which it won last time but the MLAs crossed over to BJP and Congress in recent times.
Former BJP leader Brahm Singh Tanwar, the loser in 2020 elections, will fight for AAP this time in Chattarpur while in Seemapuri, where winner and former minister Raj Pal Gautam who joined Congress, will see former Congress leader Veer Singh Dhingra as the candidate.
From Laxmi Nagar seat where AAP lost last time, AAP has fielded former BJP councillor BB Tyagi. AAP's Laxmi Nagar candidate Nitin Tyagi has joined BJP recently.
Senior Minister and AAP's Delhi Convenor Gopal Rai said the choice of candidate reflects AAP’s commitment to transparent and merit-based candidate selection, aiming to prioritise public service over traditional political manoeuvring.
"AAP’s leadership firmly believes that electoral success is not the sole yardstick. Instead, it prioritises candidates who have consistently stood by their communities, resolved grievances, led local initiatives, and amplified the voices of the underrepresented," he said