Lok Sabha polls: AAP announces four candidates from Delhi, one from Haryana

In Delhi, the party has joined hands with I.N.D.I.A. bloc ally Congress for the Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday named three sitting MLAs and two former MPs to fight the Lok Sabha elections from four seats in Delhi and one in Haryana, where the party has entered into an alliance with the Congress.

The party named sitting MLAs Somnath Bharti (New Delhi), Sahiram Pahalwan (South Delhi), Kuldeep Kumar (East Delhi), Mahabal Mishra (West Delhi) and Sushil Kumar Gupta (Kurukshetra, Haryana) as candidates after a meeting of its Political Affairs Committee.

AAP General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak told a press conference that the party has so far announced ten candidates, including five on Tuesday. They will be fielding a total of 23 candidates across the country.

Bharti, Pahalwan and Kumar are sitting MLAs while Mishra is a former Congress Lok Sabha MP and Gupta a former AAP Rajya Sabha MP from Delhi. In Delhi, the Congress will be contesting from the North East Delhi, Chandni Chowk and North West Delhi seats.

Senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai said the party had taken a “historic” decision by deciding to field Kumar, a sitting Dalit MLA, from a general seat. Delhi Minister Atishi said that AAP is the only party which is earnestly trying to end caste-based politics in the country.

AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “No party gives tickets to SC community from general seats. Only AAP is fulfilling Baba Saheb’s (B R Ambedkar) dream. Kuldeep Kumar is the son of a sanitation worker and comes from a very poor family.”

Bharti, a former minister in the Kejriwal government, is presently the Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairperson and is hoping to woo urban voters in the New Delhi seat.

The AAP is hoping to cash in on the popularity of Pahalwan, a three-time MLA, and attract Jat and Gurjar votes in South Delhi.

Mishra had quit the Congress to join the AAP earlier and is fighting from the West Delhi seat, which he had represented earlier. The AAP is also hoping to attract Dalit voters across the capital by fielding Kumar from East Delhi, as it expects him to withstand the BJP campaign.

Gupta had asked the AAP not to re-nominate him to Rajya Sabha, as he “wanted to concentrate” on electoral politics in Haryana. The AAP hopes to open its account in Haryana with the help of the Congress.