First off the blocks: AAP releases list of 134 candidates for civic elections
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday announced its first list of 134 candidates for the December 4 MCD elections, the party said in a statement, and added that the names of the aspirants for the rest of the 116 wards will be announced soon.
The list of candidates was finalised at a meeting of AAP’S Political Affairs Committee (PAC) which was chaired by Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal at his residence on Friday.
Party leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity said since Monday is last day for nominations, the next list will be out by Sunday so that candidates can complete all legal formalities and keep their papers in order to ensure error-free nominations.
The BJP and Congress are yet to issue their lists for the elections. Leaders from the two parties said they were in the final stages of naming their candidates.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a party leader who attended the PAC meeting said, “During the meeting, Arvind Kejriwal listened to the views of all PAC members. After deliberations, the AAP chief announced a unanimously approved list of candidates. The Aam Aadmi Party has preferred applicants who have a strong presence among the people of their locality, and are at the forefront of serving the local population. The party believes that such people will help the party achieve its aim of making Delhi a clean and world-class city.”
According to the party statement, the AAP had undertaken surveys in all wards and took public feedback on the applications received for the party ticket. More than 20,000 people had applied for an AAP ticket, the statement said.
Kejriwal on Friday launched “10 guarantees” that encapsulate the AAP’S manifesto for the MCD elections. The party has made sanitation and corruption free governance its main poll planks. This will be second outing at MCD elections for the AAP, which contested its first ever polls in 2013. Despite achieving unprecedented success in 2015 and 2020 assembly elections, the party has failed to upstage the Bharatiya Janata Party from the MCD. In 2017, the AAP won 48 seats.
The AAP’S list has many leaders who served at key opposition posts in the erstwhile three municipal corporations. Also, some who have switched over to the party from the Congress have also been given the party ticket, party leaders said.
Manoj Tyagi, former leader of the opposition in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation and a councillor from Khajoori Khas ward, has been fielded from Sadatpur ward under Karawal Nagar assembly constituency. Similarly, the former leader of the opposition in the North Delhi corporation Vikas Goel will contest from
Keshavpuram ward. His former constituency Wazirpur has now been reserved for Scheduled Castewomen candidates.
The candidates list also features several former standing committee members such as Ajay Sharma from Mukundpur, Ravinder Bharadwaj from Aman Vihar and Rekha Tyagi from Subhash Mohalla in the east Delhi.
Parties have been scrambling to strike a balance between sitting councillors, party workers, women aspirants, and others from reserved categories since the ward structure has witnessed large scale changes in at least 24 assembly constituencies covering around 100 wards after the delimitation exercise this year. The total number of wards has also reduced from 272 to 250.
Mukesh Goel, a former Congress MCD veteran, who had joined the AAP in March this year, has also found place in the party’s first list. Goel has been a municipal councillor for 25 years, was a councillor from Sarai Pipal Thala seat, but will be contesting this year from Adarsh Nagar ward. Guddi Devi, a former Congress councillor from Malka Ganj ward has been fielded by AAP in the same constituency. She had joined the AAP in February 2022. Sultana Abad who got the ticket from Jama Masjid represented the seat from Congress in the last term.