AAP to field Ashutosh against Sibal; Damania to take on Gadkari

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sunday announced the first list of 20 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Prominent among them are social activist Medha Patkar, Anjali Damania, Yogendra Yadav and Kumar Vishwas.

Party spokesperson Ashutosh will contest from Chandni Chowk, the constituency of Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Mukul Tripathi will be contesting against External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid from Farukkhabad in Uttar Pradesh, and Kumar Vishwas will be pitted against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi constituency, also in Uttar Pradesh.

"Today we have announced the names of 20 candidates. The selection of all these candidates has been done on the basis of their work for the society," AAP leader Manish Sisodia said at a press conference.

Other prominent persons include Anjali Damania who would contest from Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari's stronghold Nagpur, Yogendra Yadav from Gurgaon, lawyer H.S. Phoolka from Ludhiana, the constituency of Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, and Subhash Ware who will fight against Suresh Kalmadi in Pune.

Medha Patkar will contest the polls from northeast Mumbai.

"While choosing the candidates, we have tried to prevent corrupt and people with criminal charges from entering politics," Sisodia added.

The decision was taken after a meeting of the party's political affairs committee held earlier Sunday.