New
Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday released its first list of 20 Lok
Sabha candidates that includes some of its well known faces — Yogendra
Yadav, Kumar Vishwas, Medha Patkar, Ashutosh and H S Phoolka among
others — along with lesser known names. Some of the contestants are
pitted against Congress heavyweights, assuming the incumbents contest
from the same seats in
the forthcoming elections.
the forthcoming elections.
The candidature of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and senior leader Manish Sisodia has not yet been announced though AAP is yet to declare nominees for five of Delhi’s seven seats. Former TV journalist Ashutosh will take on law minister Kapil Sibal in Chandni Chowk and another former journalist, Jarnail Singh, will contest against Delhi veteran Mahabal Mishra.
As part of its attempt to make a statement on corruption issues, it has fielded Subash Ware in Pune, the constituency of fallen sports czar Suresh Kalmadi, who is accused in Commonwealth Games cases. In Nagpur, AAP activist Anjali Damania will take on former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who quit following allegations of wrongdoing in the Purti group of companies.
Well-known Narmada activist Medha Patkar has been announced as AAP candidate against Congress’s Sanjay Dina Patil in North East Mumbai. External affairs minister Salman Khursid will face AAP’s Mukul Tripathi in Farrukhabad while I&B minister Manish Tewari will face H S Phoolka in Ludhiana.
Yogendra Yadav will be AAP’s contestant from Gurgaon where the party hopes to do well. The contest promises to be keen as he takes on Rao Inderjit Singh who recently left Congress to join BJP.
Yadav hails from Rewari and, interestingly, both belong to the Ahir community that has a strong presence in the constituency. As anticipated, AAP announced Kumar Vishwas as its candidate for Amethi against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
ASHUTOSH VERSUS SIBAL
DELHI Ashutosh vs Kapil Sibal (Cong) | Chandni Chowk Jarnail Singh vs Mahabal Mishra (Cong) | West Delhi (Jarnail had flung a shoe at P Chidambaram in 2009)
HARYANA Yogendra Yadav vs Rao Inderjit Singh (BJP) | Gurgaon UP Kumar Vishwas vs Rahul Gandhi (Cong) | Amethi
Baba Hardev vs Mulayam Singh Yadav
(SP) | Mainpuri
Mukul Tripathi vs Salman Khurshid (Cong) | Farrukhabad
Soumendra Dhaka vs Ajit Singh (RLD) | Baghpat Dr Jiyalal Ram vs Dr Baliram (Cong) | Lalganj
Yogesh Dahiya vs Jagdish Singh Rana (BSP) | Saharanpur
Khalid Parvaiz vs Mohd Azharuddin (Cong) | Moradabad
MAHARASHTRA Subash Ware vs Suresh Kalmadi (Cong) | Pune
Anjali Damania vs Nitin Gadkari (BJP) | Nagpur
Mayank Gandhi vs Gurudas Kamat (Cong) | Mumbai North West
Medha Patkar vs Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) | Mumbai North East Meera Sanyal vs Milind Deora (Cong) | Mumbai (S)
Vijay Pandhare vs Sameer Bhujbal (NCP) | Nashik
MP Alok Aggarwal vs Arun Subhashchandra Yadav
(Cong) | Khandwa
ARUNACHAL Habung Payeng vs Takam Sanjoy (Cong) | Arunachal West
ODISHA Lingaraj vs Sanjay Bhoi (Cong) | Bargarh
PUNJAB H S Phoolka vs Manish Tewari (Cong) | Ludhiana AAP fields Meera Sanyal against Deora
AAP’s Mayank Gandhi will contest from northwest Mumbai against Gurudas Kamat and Meera Sanyal from south Mumbai against Milind Deora.
Regionally recognized activists like Lingaraj, leader of a farmers’ movement in Odisha, and Alok Agarwal from the Narmada Bachao Andolan also figure in AAP’s first list of 20 candidates.
Kumar Vishwas had shifted base to Amethi in January and had begun campaigning which then led to some murmurs about lack of transparency in the party’s candidate selection process. The name of tribal activist Soni Sori, who has been charged by the Chhattisgarh police for abetting Maoists, has also been doing the rounds and the party has reportedly considered her name for the Bastar seat. However, party sources denied that her candidature was discussed at Sunday’s meeting.
The party has pledged to field candidates against some 30-odd politicians who AAP sees as corrupt and communal. The first list has at least 10 such names including those of Sibal, Khurshid, Kalmadi and Rahul Gandhi from the Congress and Gadkari from BJP.
The list has only one BJP leader against whom a candidate has been declared and 14 from Congress. “We are committed to fighting graft and will reveal the truth behind both BJP and Congress. This was our first list and subsequent ones will follow shortly. It is our aim to field candidates who are honest and committed to the country,” senior AAP member Manish Sisodia said.
Candidates like Lingaraj have only recently been formally associated with AAP. “Now that we are contesting at the national level, we need to expand and there are several groups who like AAP are fighting against corruption and believe in inclusive growth,” said senior party officials.
Columnist Santosh Desai said the most significant part of the list was AAP’s targets. “Names like Kumar Vishwas and Meera Sanyal were expected. The list is indicative that not only does the party want to win as many seats as it can but it also wants to make a statement,” he said.
