After snubbed by the Congress party, Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday announced candidates for six out of seven Lok Sabha seats, which are at stake in the city-state. The party has fielded Raghav Chadha from South Delhi.
The name of six Lok Sabha candidates was announced by Minister Gopal Rai at a press conference here, thus bringing all speculations about the Congress-AAP alliance in Delhi to an end. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too had earlier said that there was a limit of waiting and persuading (Congress) to agree to the alliance.
The party has fielded Brajesh Goyal from New Delhi, Aatishi from East Delhi, Dilip K Pandey from North East Delhi, Raghav Chadha from South Delhi, Pankaj Gupta from Chandani Chowk, and Gugan Singh from North West Delhi. AAP has not yet announced the candidate for West Delhi Lok Sabha seat.
Rai said the Congress president Rahul Gandhi had ruled out any alliance during a meeting held at the residence of NCP leader Sharad Pawar after the recent rally of 'Mahagathbandhan' at the Jantar Mantar. "Former Delhi Chief Minister and DPCC president Sheila Dikshit too denied the possibility of an alliance on Friday," he said.
"As a result, we had time constraint as the Model Code of Conduct is going to be enforced in a few days. Thus, in view of the shortage of time, we have decided the name of our Lok Sabha candidates," he said. "We will decide the candidate for West Delhi seat shortly," he said.
Pankaj Gupta, who has been fielded from Chandani Chowk seat, is a software engineer, and is a founder national secretary of AAP. At present, BJP leader and Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan represents Chandani Chowk seat. He had defeated Ashutosh of AAP by 1,36,320 votes in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
From North East Delhi seat, AAP has fielded Dilip Pandey, also a software engineer. At present, this seat is represented by Manoj Tiwari, who is also the president of BJP's Delhi unit. In the last Lok Sabha poll, Tiwari had defeated Prof Anand Kumar of AAP by 1,44,084 votes.
AAP's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) Aatishi will try her luck from East Delhi, which is currently held by BJP's Mahesh Giri, who had defeated AAP's Rajmohan Gandhi by 1,90,463 votes. Aatishi is an alumna of Delhi University's St Stephen's College.
From South Delhi, AAP spokesperson and chartered accountant Raghav Chadha will try his luck. In 2014 Lok Sabha poll, AAP had fielded Col Devinder Sehrawat, who lost the poll to BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri.
Gugan Singh is AAP's choice for North West Delhi seat (reserved), which is currently held by Udit Raj of the BJP, who had defeated Rakhi Birla of AAP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls by a margin of over one lakh votes. He was earlier associated with the BSP.
From New Delhi seat, AAP has fielded Brajesh Goyal, a science graduate and yoga expert. The seat is currently held by Meenakshi Lekhi of the BJP, who had defeated Ashish Khetan by a margin of 1,62,708 votes. According to AAP's statement, Goyal has been fighting for the cause of traders for the past seven years.
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