Delhi polls: AAP releases first list of 22 candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday released the first list of 22 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

"Former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti will contest the assembly elections from Malviya Nagar, Saurabh Kohli from Greater Kailash, and Rajesh Rishi from Janak Puri," said Aam Aadmi Party core committee member Sanjay Singh.

Singh further said Sadar Bazar's AAP MLA Som Dutt, who had defeated BJP leader Jai Prakash with a margin of 796 in the last elections, will be contesting from the same seat.

"Anil Vajpayi will be contesting from Gandhi Nagar, Jagdeep Singh from Hari Nagar and Jitendra Tomar from Tri Nagar," he added.

The other AAP candidates who would be fighting the polls are Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, Manoj Kumar from Kundli, Girish Soni from Madipur, Vishesh Ravi from Karol Bagh, Sanjeev Jha from Burari and Bhavna Gaur from Palam.

Vandana Kumari will contest from Shalimar Bagh, Commando Surinder from Delhi Cantt., Satya Jain from Shakurbasti and Sandeep from Sultanpur.

Atul Gupta will be contesting from Vishwas Nagar, Gulab Singh Yadav from Matiyala, Vijendar Garg from Rajendra Nagar, Kapil Mishra from Karawal Nagar and N.D. Sharma from Badarpur.

APP chief Arvind Kejriwal is expected to contest from the New Delhi Assembly seat. Last year, he had defeated former chief minister Sheila Dixit by over 22,000 votes from the same seat.

With the Union Cabinet recommending the dissolution of the Delhi Assembly and setting the stage for fresh elections in the days to come, political parties have begun finalizing their poll campaign strategy to grab power here.

President's rule was imposed in Delhi since February after the Kejriwal-led AAP government stepped down after remaining in power for 49 days.