The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday released its second list of 20 candidates for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the capital.
Manish Sisodia, the former Delhi Deputy CM and Arvind Kejriwal's closest aide, has been named in the list, however, his constituency has been changed from Patparganj to Jangpura, apparently an AAP stronghold.
Avadh Ojha, a UPSC coach recently inducted into the party, will fill in for Sisodia and make his electoral foray from Patparganj seat.
Sisodia's constituency shift in the impending polls becomes significant in the light of the fact that he has long held the Patparganj Assembly constituency, however, his electoral fortunes wavered and were almost crushed in 2020 elections. He saw a close contest on Patparganj seat and emerged victorious with a wafer-thin majority of just over 3,000 votes. Earlier contests in 2013 and 2015 saw him defeat his nearest rival on the same seat by huge margins.
Avadh Ojha, recently inducted into AAP will look to generate public support of the ruling party and negate the anti-incumbency factor in the constituency, due to liquor heat on former Delhi Deputy CM.
Among other prominent faces who are part of the 20-member list are Surendra Bhardwaj, Rakhi Birla, among others.
Delhi Assembly elections are scheduled early next year. Though AAP, led by Kejriwal, has remained scot free in the last ten years, the party is seeing possibly its strongest challenge from the opposition this time.
For, the largest opposition party, BJP, have been pillorying the Kejriwal-led AAP government against corruption and graft charges, saying only one agenda works for the ruling party – all to promote and protect the corrupt persons, whom the party Brass heads.".
In the AAP's second list, Dinesh Bhardwaj will contest from the Narela seat, Surendra Pal Singh Bittu from the Timarpur seat, Mukesh Goyal from the Adarsh Nagar seat, Jasbir Karala from Mundka, Rakesh Jatav from Mangolpuri, Pradeep Mittal from Rohini, Puran Singh Shahane from Chandni Chowk, Parvesh Ratan from Patel Nagar, Rakhi Birla from Madipur, Praveen Kumar from Janakpuri and Surendra Bhardwaj from Bijwasan.
Other AAP candidates contesting the elections include Joginder Solanki (Palam), Prem Kumar Chauhan (Deoli), Anjana Parcha (Trilokpuri), Vikas Bagga (Krishnanagar), Naveen Chaudhary (Gandhinagar), Jitendra Singh Shanti (Shahdara), Adil Ahmed Khan (Mustafabad).
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