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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shazia Ilmi and tribal activist Soni Sori were on the sixth list of 55 Lok Sabha candidates released by the party on Saturday. Ilmi, earlier pitted to contest against Congress
President Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli, is contesting from the urban constituency of Ghaziabad (in Uttar Pradesh), where the party headquarters is situated. The Ghaziabad seat is represented by the Bhartiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh and Ilmi will face Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar, who had won against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav in a by-poll from Firozabad in 2009. Sori, a tribal school teacher, will contest from Bastar seat in Chattisgarh. The tribal activist was a victim of brutal torture by the Chhattisgarh police for her alleged link with Maoists. Sori had joined the AAP in February and had urged to contest from the Bastar constituency. Recently, 15 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and the district police were killed by Maoists in the region.
With this list, the party has announced the name of 242 candidates. The party looks to contest the Lok Sabha elections from around 350 seats.
