The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) released its second list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly elections, which are set to be held early next year. In this list, Manish Sisodia, the current MLA from Patparganj, has been moved to Jangpura. Avadh Ojha, a new member of AAP, will contest from Patparganj.
Sisodia was first elected from Patparganj, part of the east Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, in the December 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, defeating his BJP rival Nakul Bhardwaj.
He won again in the 2015 elections by beating BJP's Vinod Kumar Binny, and in the 2020 elections, he won against Ravinder Singh Negi from the BJP.
In this new list, 18 out of the 20 candidates are new faces, including Ojha, a well-known UPSC coach and educator who joined AAP on December 2. Ojha is originally from Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
Sources say the decision to field Ojha from Patparganj is based on the changing demographic of the constituency, particularly the focus on the Purvanchali community, which makes up about 42 per cent of Delhi’s voters.
This community has a strong influence in many constituencies in Delhi, including Burari, Laxmi Nagar, and Dwarka. The Purvanchal region includes the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and the western part of Bihar.
Other names on the list include Mukesh Goel, a current councillor and key AAP strategist in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, who will contest from Adarsh Nagar, and Punardeep Singh Sawhney, the son of sitting MLA Parlad Singh Sawhney, who will contest from Chandni Chowk.
This announcement comes after AAP revealed its first list of 11 candidates, including six former BJP and Congress leaders. Former BJP leaders Brahm Singh Tanwar, Anil Jha, and BB Tyagi, along with ex-Congress leaders Chaudhry Zubair Ahmad, Veer Dhingan, and Sumesh Shokeen, have also been given tickets to contest the upcoming elections.
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