NEW DELHI: The AAP has called a meeting of its Political Affairs Committee on Tuesday to discuss the party’s probable candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The party has finalised seat-share agreements with its INDIA bloc ally Congress for Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana. The two parties, however, will contest separately in Punjab, considering the ”special circumstances” in the state. In Delhi, the AAP will contest from four of seven seats — New Delhi, West Delhi, East Delhi and South Delhi. All seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi are currently held by the BJP.
”The Political Affairs Committee will meet tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss the names of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls,” a party source said on Monday. The AAP has already announced three candidates for Assam and two for Gujarat — in the Bharuch and the Bhavnagar constituencies.
Sources said the party has shortlisted a few names for each seat while a survey has also been conducted to get ground-level feedback on each. Some sitting MLAs also want to jump into the Lok Sabha poll fray. In South Delhi, Chhatarpur MLA Kartar Singh Tanwar and Tughlaqabad MLA Sahiram Pahalwan are among the probable candidates.
In New Delhi, the party is mulling fielding Malviya Nagar MLA Somnath Bharti, Moti Nagar MLA Shiv Charan Goel and Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi. From West Delhi, which has a high number of Purvanchali voters, the AAP may decide to field former MP Mahabal Mishra. Mishra left the Congress a couple of years ago. He unsuccessfully contested the 2019 elections on a Congress ticket.
In East Delhi, Gopal Rai — the party’s Delhi unit convenor and a Delhi minister — is among those in contention.
The AAP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from all seven seats in Delhi, emerging as runner-up on two and finishing third on the remainder.
The battle lines for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi are now clearly defined with the AAP-Congress taking on the BJP.
Source: Press Trust of India
