AAP fields 24 new faces, drops 15 sitting MLAs

The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded 24 new faces, dropping 15 sitting MLAs, in its list of candidates for the February 8 Delhi assembly elections announced on Tuesday.

The new candidates included Atishi Marlena, Dilip Pandey and Raghav Chadha, who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and five others who recently defected from the Congress.

The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded senior Congress leader Mahabal Mishra's son Vinay Kumar Singh from Dwarka constituency, replacing Adarsh Shastri who is the grandson of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The major omissions included party's chief whip in the assembly Jagdeep Singh (Hari Nagar), Surender 'Commando (Delhi Cantt) and Haji Ishraq Khan (Seelampur). The AAP is fielding five-time MLA Shoaib Iqbal, who recently join the party, in place of Asim Ahmed Khan from Matia Mahal.

Besides replacing 15 sitting MLAs, the party has fielded new candidates on four seats held by opposition BJP and five seats which fell vacant after the AAP MLAs defected.

Taking to Twitter, senior party leader and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that 46 sitting MLAs will be contesting the upcoming elections and there will be new faces on 24 seats.

The sitting MLAs denied tickets also include Pankaj Pushkar (Timar Pur), Ram Chander (Bawana),Sukhbir Dalal (Mundka), Hazari Lal Chauhan (Patel Nagar), Vijender Garg (Rajendra Nagar), Avtar Singh (Kalkaji), N D Sharma (Badarpur), Raju Dhingan (Trilokpuri), Manoj Kumar (Kondli), Choudhary Fateh Singh(Gokulpur) and Asim Ahmed Khan (Matia Mahal).

They were replaced by Dilip Pandey (Timarpur), Jai Bhagwan Upkar (Bawana), Dharampal Lakada (Mundka), Raj Kumar Anand (Patel Nagar), Raj Kumari Dhillo (Hari Nagar), Vinay Kumar Singh (Dwarka), Virender Singh Kadyan (Delhi Cantt), Raghav Chadha (Rajendra Nagar), Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur), Rohit Kumar Mehroliya (Trilokpuri), Kuldeep Kumar (Kondli), Abdul Rahman (Seelampur), Surendra Kumar (Gokalpur) and Shoaib Iqbal (Matia Mahal)