Faced with the threat of anti-incumbency, the arrest of senior leaders and disruption caused by the opposition hoping to cash in on corruption charges, the Aam Aadmi Party is reworking its lineup for the next Delhi assembly elections, which could result in more MLAs. have been dropped and others have been nominated from different constituencies, The Indian Express has learnt.
According to sources, there may be a possibility of allocating a different seat to Manish Sisodia, the former deputy chief minister and MLA from Patparganj, at the top of the exercise in the elections due early next year.
Sisodia did not respond to a request for comment but another senior party leader told The Indian Express that “a change is under consideration”. “There are other seats and leaders that we are looking at first because there are bigger issues,” the leader said.
According to sources, Sisodia is likely to be fielded from Jangpura, while a “recently-arrived popular face” is likely to be fielded from Patpadganj. Among those who joined the party recently are former Congress MLA Surendra Pal Singh Bittu, former BJP MLA Jitendra Singh Shanti and UPSC exam coach Awadh Ojha.
Sisodia won from Patpadganj in 2013, 2015 and 2020, with a margin of over 28,000 votes in between. In 2020, he won by more than 3,100 votes. “In 2020, the BJP’s campaign in some seats, including East and North East Delhi, focused on anti-CAA protests. There were at least two senior BJP leaders who were camping in Patparganj for at least 10 days. So far this year, there has been no factor that the BJP has been able to capitalize on,” AAP sources said.
On November 21, AAP released its first list of 11 candidates for Delhi, including the six seats it lost to the BJP in 2020. It announced new candidates for three seats with Anil Jha, Chaudhary Zubair Ahmed and sitting MLAs. Kirari MLA Rituraj Govind, Seelampur MLA Abdul Rahman and Matiala MLA Gulab Singh have been appointed by Sumesh Shokin. This is in addition to two seats where its MLAs left.
According to the results of the survey, the party said that changes are necessary. Since then, it has become more intense.
In the last two days, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ramniwas Goyal and Timarpur MLA Dilip Pandey, who are associated with the party from the India Against Corruption movement, have announced that they will not contest the elections this time. Party’s Gujarat election campaign in-charge Gulab Singh will also not contest.
“There are 10-11 more seats where incumbent MLAs will have to be replaced. In a handful of cases, even if our surveys and ground reports show that the party is ahead despite the MLA being unpopular, we will change the candidate as we want to avoid any negative vote at the last minute,” a senior party leader said. said .
In 2020, AAP brought in 15 new faces. Reiterating that popularity and acceptability will be the key criteria this time too, the leader said, “This election is different…we are asking for a third term and popularity of MLAs becomes the main factor”.
‘It is different from the elections we fought in the past. In 2013, AAP did much better than projected. 2015 was a historic one where the party won 67 out of 70 seats. In 2020, when we were afraid of the anti-incumbency, our surveys showed that we are well placed,” the leader said, referring to the 62 seats the party won last time.
This time, the leader admitted, AAP is facing a “very tough election”.
Top leaders including Sisodia and Arvind Kejriwal were in jail for several months mainly in Delhi’s excise policy case and are currently out on bail. Along with the strained relationship with the bureaucracy, Delhi’s Lt Governor VK Saxena has also posed a challenge to legislators, complaining that major civic works and schemes have been pending for months. Also, the party has announced that it will not join hands with its alliance partner Congress in the Bharat Bloc.
The BJP, on the other hand, is hopeful that its focus on corruption charges, particularly against Kejriwal, and the slow pace of work in rural Delhi will take it out.
After being released on bail, New Delhi MLA Kejriwal has resigned as chief minister and announced that he will be re-elected to prove his innocence. He was succeeded by Atishi, MLA from Kalkaji. Both of them are expected to contest from their existing seats this time.
The Aam Aadmi Party is traditionally the first to announce the list of candidates but this time it may reveal some names closer to the nomination date. “In areas where there is a big problem among party workers and councilors and MLAs, we will announce the names soon so that the workers are reactivated. In other areas, the announcement may take longer,” said a senior AAP leader.