The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced its list of all 70 candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls, fielding chief minister Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi Assembly seat and his deputy Manish Sisodia from the Patparganj seat.
Fifteen sitting MLAs have been replaced in the list. Sisodia said the Committee has approved names of all 70 candidates for the polls.
"The existing MLAs will contest elections on 46 seats in place of 15 existing MLAs and 9 new MLAs on vacant seats. There are 8 women among them. In 2015, there were six women," Sisodia said.
Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who won the 2015 election by getting 51.05 percent of the total votes, has been replaced by party's unsuccessful 2019 Lok Sabha candidate Dilip Pandey.
Ram Chander, party MLA from Bawana, who won in 2015 with 45.39 percent votes, has been replaced by Jai Bhagwan Upkar, a former BSP councillor, who joined AAP on Monday.
Mundka MLA Sukhbir Dalal, who won with 57.22 percent votes in 2015, has also been axed by the party. A former Congress member from Mundka assembly constituency, Dharampal Lakra, who joined AAP in 2014 was given an opportunity by the party for the 2020 Assembly elections.
Dalit activist Raj Kumar Anand, who rejoined the Aam Aadmi Party in July 2019 after quitting it during the 2015 Assembly elections, has replaced Hazari Lal Chauhan, sitting MLA from Patel Nagar, who won in 2015 with 59.05 percent votes.
From Hari Nagar constituency, Rajkumari Dhillon, a former Congress councillor who joined AAP on Monday, has replaced sitting MLA Jagdeep Singh, who won with 58.42 percent votes.
Adarsh Shastri, the grandson of Lal Bahadur Shastri, had won the Dwarka seat with 59.08 percent votes in 2015. He has been removed this time and Vinay Kumar Mishra, a Congress leader and son of former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra, who joined AAP on Monday along with numerous leaders has been given the opportunity to contest from the seat.
Ex-serviceman Surinder Singh had won the 2015 election from Delhi Cantonment with 51.82 percent votes. He is replaced by former Air Force Sergeant and advocate Virender Singh Kadian, who had been with the party since the beginning.
Another failed Lok Sabha candidate Raghav Chadha has replaced Vijender Garg at Rajinder Nagar constituency. Garg had won the 2015 election with 54.39 percent votes.
Avtar Singh, who won the Kalkaji seat with 51.72 percent votes, is replaced by unsuccessful 2019 Lok Sabha candidate Atishi, who had been involved with the AAP government's education reforms.
From Badarpur Assembly, Ram Singh Netaji, a former Congressman and a two-time MLA from Badarpur who joined AAP on Monday, has replaced sitting AAP MLA N.D Sharma, who got 59.3 percent votes in 2015.
From Trilokpuri, sitting MLA Raju Dhingan, who won in 2015 with 58.62 percent votes, has been replaced by party's Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, who was elected to EDMC's Trilokpuri-East ward in 2017 MCD elections.
The AAP has decided to field another MCD winner from Kalyan Puri ward Kuldeep Kumar (Monu) for the Kondli constituency. MLA Manoj Kumar had won from the seat in 2015 with 50.66 percent votes.
From Seelampur, Abdul Rehman, also an MCD winner from East Delhi, has been given the ticket, replacing Haji Ishraq, who won in 2015 with 51.26 percent votes.
In Gokalpur, Ch. Surendra Kumar, a former BJP leader who joined AAP in October 2019, has replaced Fateh Singh who bagged 48.71 percent votes.
A former Congressman Shoaib Iqbal, who is a five-time MLA from Matia Mahal from different parties and had joined AAP on January 9, will contest from the Assembly constituency.
AAP's Asim Ahmed Khan broke Iqbal's winning streak in 2015 by defeating him as he bagged 59.23 percent of the votes.
Soon after the announcement, Kejriwal tweeted, "Best wishes to all. Don't be complacent. Work v hard. People have lot of faith in AAP and u. God bless."
