AAP releases second list, switches Sisodia’s seat
AAP announced 20 candidates for Delhi assembly elections, dropping 15 sitting MLAs and switching two seats, as it prepares for the crucial polls.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday released its second list of candidates for the Delhi assembly elections that are scheduled next year, announcing 20 names, dropping 15 sitting MLAs and switching the seats of two sitting legislators, including former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
The list was released after AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal chaired a meeting of the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC). The AAP has so far fielded 31 candidates for polls to the Capital’s 70 seats, which are likely to be held early next year. The BJP and the Congress are yet to announce any names.
“AAP has intensified preparations for the upcoming assembly elections. Today [Monday], names of 20 more candidates were finalised. Seats of two legislators have been changed. We have fielded our candidates on the basis of people’s feedback and their performance. The second list will further strengthen AAP’s ongoing preparations,” senior AAP leader and Delhi minister Gopal Rai said.
Sisodia, who was an MLA from the Patparganj seat in East Delhi since 2013, will contest the upcoming polls from the Jangpura constituency in South Delhi. “From Patparganj to Jangpura, my resolve is firm: to make Delhi even better. Your trust is my strength,” he posted on X.
Popular civil services exam coach Avadh Ojha, who joined the AAP earlier this month, will contest from Patparganj. “I express my gratitude to the National Convenor of Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal ji, who trusted a common teacher like me and gave me an opportunity. Sisodia ji’s education resolution will continue from Patparganj,” Ojha said in a post on X.
Sisodia won Patparganj by 3,207 votes in 2020 and 28,761 in 2015. The AAP won a landslide majority on both occasions.
Senior party leader and deputy assembly speaker Rakhi Bidlan, who was an MLA from Mangolpuri in North West Delhi, was fielded from the Madipur constituency in West Delhi. “I thank Arvind Kejriwal ji with all my heart for making me a candidate from the Madipur assembly. It is a moment of pride and responsibility for me that I have been chosen to represent the people in the Delhi assembly,” she posted on X. The party announced Rakesh Jatav as its candidate from Mangolpuri.
The BJP mounted an attack on the AAP over the change in sitting MLAs’ seats, saying that the party knew that it had lost the mandate of the people.
“Not only were former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former minister Rakhi Bidlan forced to change their constituencies, but many sitting MLAs were denied tickets. Although Sisodia and Bidlan have received tickets, switching constituencies after three elections shows that they have lost their political ground in their previous areas,” Delhi BJP chief Virender Sachdeva said.
The second list of 20 candidates included two women and three turncoats, with representation being given to different caste groups. The other candidates announced on Monday were Dinesh Bharadwaj (Narela), Surender Pal Singh Bittu (Timarpur), Mukesh Goel (Adarsh Nagar), Jasbir Kalra (Mundka), Pradeep Mittal (Rohini), Purandeep Singh Sawhney (Chandni Chowk), Parvesh Ratan (Patel Nagar), Pravin Kumar (Janakpuri), Surender Bharadwaj (Bijwasan), Joginder Solanki (Palam), Prem Kumar Chauhan (Deoli), Anjana Parcha (Trilokpuri), Vikas Bagga (Krishna Nagar), Naveen Chaudhary (Gandhi Nagar), Jinder Singh Shunty (Shahdara) and Adil Ahmad Khan (Mustafabad). Eighteen of these seats were won by the AAP in the last assembly elections, and two—Rohini and Gandhi Nagar—were with the BJP.
HT reported on Sunday that the party might replace at least 20 or a third of its sitting MLAs for the crucial Delhi polls in a bid to blunt anti-incumbency. Party leaders familiar with the matter had said that their internal surveys showed that a sizeable portion of voters wanted Kejriwal back as CM, but there was discontent against some of the legislators. Shahdara MLA Ram Niwas Goel and Timarpur MLA Dilip Pandey opted out of the 2025 elections “on their own” before any of the lists were released.
In its first list announced on November 21, the party dropped three sitting MLAs. On Monday, it replaced 15 more—Sharad Chauhan (Narela), Dilip Pandey (Timarpur), Pawan Kumar Sharma (Adarsh Nagar), Dharampal Lakra (Mundka), Parlad Singh Sawhney (Chandani Chowk), Rajesh Rishi (Janakpuri), Bhupender Singh Joon (Bijwasan), Bhawna Gaur (Palam), Praveen Kumar (Jangpura), Prakash Jarwal (Deoli), Rohit Kumar Mehrauilia (Trilokpuri), SK Bagga (Krishna Nagar), Ram Niwas Goel (Shahdara) and Haji Yunus (Mustafabad) and Girish Soni (Madipur)
To be sure, two of the leaders — Bagga and Sawhney—were replaced by their sons.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior AAP leader said, “The decision to drop the sitting MLAs was based on ground surveys and evaluation of their work on a range of criteria such as development work carried out in respective segments, popularity, accessibility, anti-incumbency sentiment, and the overall winnability factor because the elections are very crucial for the party and it wants to plug all the holes.”
The current term of the Delhi assembly ends on February 23, 2025. The AAP won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly in the February 2020 assembly elections, and the BJP won the remaining eight. Currently, the AAP has 58 MLAs in the House, as four of its lawmakers have either resigned or been disqualified. The AAP, which is battling mounting allegations of financial irregularities and crumbling civic infrastructure in the Capital, has been buoyed in recent months by the release of senior leaders such as Kejriwal and former Sisodia. In September, Kejriwal resigned as Delhi’s chief minister and handed the baton over to Atishi, marking the latest churn in the Capital’s political upheaval just before the assembly polls.
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