AAP axes 15 sitting MLAs

By Nivedita Singh

New Delhi, Jan 14 (SocialNews.XYZ) As the Aam Aadmi Party released a list of its candidates for the 70 Assembly seats in Delhi, 15 sitting MLAs could not find their names.

Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, who won the 2015 election by getting 51.05 per cent of the total votes, has been replaced by party's unsuccessful 2019 Lok Sabha candidate Dilip Pandey.

Ram Chander, party MLA from Bawana, who won in 2015 with 45.39 per cent votes, has been replaced by Jai Bhagwan Upkar, a former BSP councillor, who joined AAP on Monday.

Mundka MLA Sukhbir Dalal, who won with 57.22 per cent votes in 2015, has also been axed by the party. A former Congress member from Mundka assembly constituency, Dharampal Lakra, who joined AAP in 2014 was given an opportunity by the party for the 2020 Assembly elections.

Dalit activist Raj Kumar Anand, who rejoined the Aam Aadmi Party in July 2019 after quitting it during the 2015 Assembly elections, has replaced Hazari Lal Chauhan, sitting MLA from Patel Nagar, who won in 2015 with 59.05 per cent votes.

From Hari Nagar constituency, Rajkumari Dhillon, a former Congress councillor who joined AAP on Monday, has replaced sitting MLA Jagdeep Singh, who won with 58.42 per cent votes.

Adarsh Shastri, the grandson of Lal Bahadur Shastri, had won the Dwarka seat with 59.08 per cent votes in 2015. He has been removed this time and
Vinay Kumar Mishra, a Congress leader and son of former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra, who joined AAP on Monday along with numerous leaders has been given the opportunity to contest from the seat.

Ex-serviceman Surinder Singh had won the 2015 election from Delhi Cantonment with 51.82 per cent votes. He is replaced by former Air Force Sergeant and advocate Virender Singh Kadian, who had been with the party since the beginning.

Another failed Lok Sabha candidate Raghav Chadha has replaced Vijender Garg at Rajinder Nagar constituency. Garg had won the 2015 election with 54.39 per cent votes.

Avtar Singh, who won the Kalkaji seat with 51.72 per cent votes, is replaced by unsuccessful 2019 Lok Sabha candidate Atishi, who had been involved with the AAP government's education reforms.

From Badarpur Assembly, Ram Singh Netaji, a former Congressman and a two-time MLA from Badarpur who joined AAP on Monday, has replaced sitting AAP MLA N.D Sharma, who got 59.3 per cent votes in 2015.

From Trilokpuri, sitting MLA Raju Dhingan, who won in 2015 with 58.62 per cent votes, has been replaced by party's Rohit Kumar Mehraulia, who was elected to EDMC's Trilokpuri-East ward in 2017 MCD elections.

The AAP has decided to field another MCD winner from Kalyan Puri ward Kuldeep Kumar (Monu) for the Kondli constituency. MLA Manoj Kumar had won from the seat in 2015 with 50.66 per cent votes.

From Seelampur, Abdul Rehman, also a MCD winner from East Delhi, has been given the ticket, replacing Haji Ishraq, who won in 2015 with 51.26 per cent votes.

In Gokalpur, Ch. Surendra Kumar, a former BJP leader who joined AAP in October 2019, has replaced Fateh Singh who bagged 48.71 per cent votes.

A former Congressman Shoaib Iqbal,who is a five-time MLA from Matia Mahal from different parties and had joined AAP on January 9, will contest from the Assembly constituency.

AAP's Asim Ahmed Khan broke Iqbal's winning streak in 2015 by defeating him as he bagged 59.23 per cent of the votes.

The city is going to the polls on February 8 as the tenure of the Delhi Assembly is ending next month.

(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)

Source: IANS