Cong fields 5 sitting MPs in Delhi

Reposing faith in old war horses, the Congress on Tuesday renominated five of its seven sitting Lok Sabha MPs in Delhi for the April 10 election. 

They are Chandni Chowk MP Kapil Sibal, North-East Delhi MP J P Agarwal, East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, New Delhi MP Ajay Maken and North-West Delhi MP Krishna Tirath. The party kept pending the announcement of candidates from West Delhi and South Delhi constituencies which are held by Mahabal Mishra and Ramesh Kumar.

The announcement of the first list of Delhi candidates by AICC General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry came three days after nominations in the city began on March 15. The filing of papers would end March 22. “The party has gone into the election with a positive frame of mind and ignored suggestions of anti-incumbency against the sitting MPs,” said a Delhi Congress leader.

Another leader said the party has tried to play it safe and avoid experiments. “There is no word on when the other two candidates would be announced,” he said. An internal survey earlier indicated that the party’s popularity had dipped in four of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies.