AAP releases 1st list of 11 candidates, fields six turncoats

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released its first list of 11 candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February next year. Six of them switched over from the BJP and the Congress recently, while three sitting MLAs were denied tickets from their respective seats.

The AAP is the first party to release a list of candidates.

Brahm Singh Tanwar will contest from the Chhatarpur constituency, replacing Kartar Singh Tanwar, who lost his Assembly membership after leaving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the BJP. Brahm Singh, who joined AAP on October 31, has a notable political career, having first been elected to the Delhi Assembly in 1993 as a BJP candidate and regaining the seat in 1998. He also won from Chhatarpur in 2013 and has served as a three-time councillor.

Similarly, former BJP MLA Anil Jha and former BJP councillor BB Tyagi, who joined AAP on November 17 and November 5, respectively, will contest from the Kirari and Laxmi Nagar constituencies.

The current AAP MLA from the Kirari constituency, Rituraj Govind Jha, has been denied the ticket from the seat. Govind had won from the seat twice in 2015 and 2020.

3 sitting MLAs denied tickets

Sitting AAP MLAs who were denied tickets include Rituraj Jha from Kirari, Gulab Singh Yadav from Matiala and Abdul Rahman from Seelampur. Both Jha and Gulab Singh are two-term MLAs

The party fielded Brahm Singh Tanwar from Chhatarpur, Anil Jha from Kirari and BB Tyagi from Laxmi Nagar. All three recently quit the BJP and joined AAP

Former Congress leader Choudhary Zubair Ahmed has been fielded from Seelampur, while ex-MLAs Veer Singh Dhingan and Somesh Shokeen have been given tickets from Seemapuri and Matiala, respectively. Ahmed, Dhingan and Shokeen joined the AAP from the Congress.

Rajender Pal Gautam, AAP MLA from Seemapuri, resigned from the membership of the Delhi Assembly and the party to join the Congress.

Meanwhile, the AAP fielded Zubair Chaudhary (Seelampur), Veer Singh Dhingan (Seemapuri) and Sumesh Shokeen (Matiala), who recently joined the AAP after quitting the Congress. Shokeen joined the party on Monday and Dhingan joined the party last week.

Dhingan will take over from Rajendra Pal Gautam, who left the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to join the BJP, while Shokeen will replace the current AAP MLA Gulab Singh.

Zubair, who joined AAP along with his father Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad and wife, will contest from the Seelampur constituency. Ahmad, a five-time Congress MLA from Seelampur, adds political weight to Zubair’s candidacy. The current AAP MLA from Seelampur, Abdul Rehman, has been dropped.

Sarita Singh will contest from the Rohtas Nagar constituency for the third time, despite losing to BJP’s Jitender Mahajan in the 2020 elections.

Meanwhile, Ram Singh Netaji, who previously won the Badarpur seat as an Independent in 1998 and as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate in 2008, has been fielded again from the constituency. Notably, Netaji has lost four elections on the Congress ticket and also lost the 2020 polls while contesting on the AAP ticket.

Former councillors Manoj Tyagi and Gaurav Sharma have been fielded as AAP candidates from Karawal Nagar and Ghonda constituencies, respectively. Deepak Singhla, who contested unsuccessfully in the 2020 elections from Vishwas Nagar, has been given another chance to contest from the same seat.

Delhi AAP convener Gopal Rai said the early declaration of names of candidates was because eight of the 11 constituencies are not held by the party. Six of these eight constituencies are currently held by the BJP. He also rebutted suggestions that outsiders who recently joined AAP were given tickets at the cost of party leaders.

The names were finalised during a meeting of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC), chaired by party convener Arvind Kejriwal. The PAC includes prominent leaders such as Chief Minister Atishi, former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha and MLAs Durgesh Pathak, Gopal Rai, Imran Hussain and Rakhi Birla.

Kejriwal reiterated that tickets for the upcoming elections would be distributed strictly based on candidates’ work, public opinion and winning potential.

“I will not give ticket to any relative, acquaintance, or friend. There will be no nepotism. Candidates will be evaluated solely on their merit and public feedback,” he said.

Describing the elections as a “dharma yudh”, Kejriwal alleged that the BJP was determined to win the elections at all costs.