Delhi: AAP changes Mehrauli seat candidate

Mehrauli MLA Naresh Yadav said he will not contest the 2025 Delhi election unless he is acquitted in a 2016 desecration case in Punjab

The Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) MLA from the Mehrauli assembly constituency, Naresh Yadav, on Friday announced that he will not contest the 2025 Delhi assembly election unless he is acquitted in a 2016 desecration case in Punjab.

Naresh Yadav

Following the announcement, the party nominated Mahender Chaudhry, husband of Mehrauli councillor Rekha Mahender Chaudhry, as its candidate for the seat.

“…. today, after meeting Arvind ji, I told him that till the court clears my case, I will not be able to do anything for the party. I will not contest elections until I am honourably acquitted. I am completely innocent, and the allegations levelled against me are politically motivated and false… I will continue to serve the people of Mehrauli and work like a common man. I will try my best to make Kejriwal the CM again. Jai Hind. Long live Mother India,” Yadav said wrote on X.

Chaudhry, who lost the Mehrauli seat in 2020 as a Congress candidate, had joined AAP in 2022.

On June 24, 2016, torn pages of the Quran were found scattered on a road in Malerkotla in Punjab, leading to communal violence. Four persons, including the AAP MLA, were arrested in the case.

Yadav was convicted by a Malerkotla court on November 28 for promoting enmity and criminal conspiracy, and handed a two-year sentence. However, the Punjab and Haryana high court suspended his sentence on December 4, granting him bail.

Yadav maintains the charges are politically motivated and has vowed to continue serving Mehrauli residents as a party worker.

The AAP has announced candidates for all 70 assembly seats. The current assembly’s term expires on February 23, and the assembly election is likely to be held in February. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has yet to announce the dates.