Lok Sabha polls: Kanhaiya, ex-minister file papers as nominations close for Delhi
Kanhaiya Kumar of AAP filed his nomination for North East Delhi, leading a big roadshow. AAP and Congress have an alliance for Delhi polls on May 25.
The Congress-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for North East Delhi Kanhaiya Kumar, 37, led a big road show on Monday after filing his nomination from the seat at the returning officer’s office in Nand Nagri as the process to file papers by candidates drew to a close with 269aspirants in the fray.
Kumar, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University students union leader, will face incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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The AAP and the Congress have forged a pre-poll alliance with the AAP contesting four of the total seven seats and the Congress fielding its candidates on the remaining three. The AAP has fielded Kuldeep Kumar (East Delhi), Somnath Bharti (New Delhi), Sahi Ram Pahalwal (South Delhi) and Mahabal Mishra (West Delhi).
The Congress has nominated Jai Prakash Agarwal (Chandni Chowk), Udit Raj (North West) and Kanhaiya Kumar (North East).
Delhi goes to polls on May 25.
The process to file nominations began from April 29. By the close of the process at 3pm on Monday, 269 people filed their papers for the seven seats. According to the election schedule, the nominations will be scrutinised on Tuesday and the last date of withdrawal is May 9.
Raaj Kumar Anand, who had quit as a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet, in April, also filed his papers from the New Delhi constituency as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee.
All Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates have already filed their nominations. The party has fielded Bansuri Swaraj (New Delhi), Harsh Malhotra (East Delhi), Kamaljeet Sehrawat (West Delhi), Praveen Khadelwal (Chandni Chowk), Manoj Tiwari (North East), Yogendra Chandolia (North West) and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (South Delhi).
Hundreds of Congress and AAP workers joined Kanhaiya Kumar in a roadshow after he filed his nomination papers. Senior AAP minister Gopal Rai, AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha, Delhi Congress interim president Devender Yadav, former Delhi unit chief Anil Kumar and others accompanied him to the District Magistrate’s office in Nand Nagri where the formalities were completed.
Before going to file his candidature, Kumar conducted puja at his office in Maujpur.
At 37, Kumar is the youngest candidate to be fielded three main contenders -- the AAP, Congress and the BJP.
Riding an open three-wheeler, Kanhaiya stopped at several points, during his roadshow, to address party supporters.
In response to criticism that he was an ‘outsider’ to North East Delhi, Kumar said, “People of Bihar are often called outsiders in Delhi.”
“When my candidature was announced, I was called an outsider. Calling a Bihari in Delhi an outsider is not a new thing. My story is not different from your story. You should remember that Delhi cannot run without Biharis. Biharis are not confined to doing menial jobs, they are also holding high positions in the government. North East Delhi has 10 assembly constituencies and I do not have resources. I have not taken donations. Even the accounts of my party have been seized. I do not have money. I vow to continue fighting for injustice till my last breath. It is a fight against injustice. We will together fight. The people of North East Delhi need to fight the election for their self-esteem,” Kanhaiya said during the roadshow in a constituency which has a considerable number of people from the Poorvanchal region (parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar).
Kumar, a former president of the JNUSU, joined the Congress in 2021. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a Communist Party of India candidate from Bihar’s Begusarai, but lost to the BJP candidate Giriraj Singh.
“I assure you that it is the beginning of justice. Unless we defeat the injustice, justice will not be delivered. It is just the beginning. You (Narendra Modi) want to silence the opposition, you want to put the opposition leaders in jail. You put me in Tihar, but I challenged the powers that be after coming out of jail. It is the same country which has high level of tolerance, but it also fights back when it is pushed hard. Whenever the state becomes arrogant and injustice increases in the country, the fight for justice begins in this country,” Kumar said during the rally after filing his nomination.
Hitting out at his competitor, Kumar said, “Manoj Tiwari thinks that during the elections he would come, entertain the people and get their votes. But the people will not let that happen,” said he said.
Anand, 57, resigned from Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet last month. He joined the Bahujan Samaj Party on May 5.
The former social justice minister said, “I am contesting the election for the welfare of people and alert them against the lollipops being given to them which is making them weak. The people should vote for their party (BSP). I am not afraid of Enforcement Directorate,” Anand said after filing his papers from the New Delhi constituency.
The All India Congress Committee on Monday night appointed three senior leaders as observers to the three seats that it is contesting in Delhi.
Sachin Pilot, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh, has been named the observer for North East Delhi; former Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh will be in charge of North West Delhi, while CP Joshi will be the observer at Chandni Chowk