AAP announces 4 LS poll candidates from Delhi, 1 from Haryana

The Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday announced four candidates from Delhi one from Haryana for the Lok Sabha polls, fielding three-time MLA Somnath Bharti from the New Delhi seat and former Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta from Kurukshetra.

The AAP declared the candidates two days after it finalised the seat-sharing deal with INDIA bloc ally Congress. The AAP is the first major party to name candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi where all the seven seats have been held by the BJP since 2014.

While Malviya Nagar MLA and Delhi Jal Board vice-chairman Somnath Bharti has been fielded from the New Delhi constituency, Kuldeep Kumar, a first-time MLA from Kondli, will be the AAP's candidate from East Delhi.

The party has fielded Sahiram Pehalwan, a three-time legislator from Tughlaqbad, from the South Delhi seat, while former MP Mahabal Mishra will contest from the West Delhi constituency.

At a press conference here after a meeting of the AAP's Political Affairs Committee, party's national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak, flanked by party leaders Atishi and Gopal Rai, said Haryana unit president and former Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta will contest from Kurukshetra.

Atishi said the main criterion the party followed in selecting candidates was their presence among people to serve them.

''If you ask about our four candidates, people from their areas will say they are available 24x7 for public service and that is why they have been selected as candidates,'' she said.

In the national capital, the party has joined hands with INDIA bloc ally Congress for the Lok Sabha polls. The AAP and Congress have arrived at a 4-3 seat-sharing arrangement for Delhi.

The Congress will field candidates from three constituencies -- Chandni Chowk, Northeast and Northwest Delhi. The AAP had already announced its three candidates for Assam and two for Gujarat.

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Atishi said the party does not believe in caste-based politics.

''In the country, seats are categorised as Brahmin-dominated, Bania-dominated and Jat-dominated. But the AAP has broken the equations of caste. We have launched fresh, young persons devoted to public service, in politics.

''Kuldeep Kumar alias Monu was an ordinary AAP volunteer up to 2017. He has reached here through hard work: first becoming a councilor, then an MLA, and now I hope he will reach Parliament as well,'' she added.

Kejriwal said only the AAP is fulfilling the dream of Babasaheb Ambedkar by giving a ticket to a person from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.

''East Delhi is a general category seat. From here, we have given a ticket to Kuldeep Kumar of the SC community. No party gives tickets to SC community from general seats.

''Only AAP is fulfilling Babasaheb's dream. Kuldeep Kumar is the son of a sanitation worker and comes from a very poor family. Presently, he is an MLA from Kondli Assembly. Need blessings from all of you,'' Kejriwal said in a post on X in Hindi.

Reacting to his candidature, Kumar said he was really thankful to Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia for choosing a person from the SC community for a general seat.

''Nobody can think of doing it but our chief minister has done it -- by giving a person from SC community and a poor family to contest from a general seat. I promise that East Delhi will be the first seat that we will win,'' Kumar told PTI-Videos Mahabal Mishra quit the Congress and joined the AAP in November 2022. Mishra's son Vinay Mishra quit the Congress before the 2020 Assembly and successfully contested from Dwarka Assembly seat as an AAP candidate.

Mahabal Mishra, a Purvanchali leader, was suspended over charges of anti-party activities by Congress for helping his son in the polls. He was elected thrice as an MLA from Dwarka and was West Delhi MP while being in Congress.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as a Congress candidate, Mishra was defeated by Parvesh Verma, former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma's son, by a whopping margin of over 5.8 lakh votes.

The BJP's Ramesh Bidhuri won the South Delhi seat for a second time in 2019 by defeating the AAP's Raghav Chadha by more than 3.65 lakh votes.

Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir won the East Delhi seat for the BJP in 2019. He defeated the current Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely by over 3.9 lakh votes.

In 2019, present treasurer of Congress Ajay Maken was defeated by BJP candidate Meenakshi Lekhi by more than 2.5 lakh votes.