Arvind Kejriwal is contesting from the New Delhi constituency (File)
With less than a month to go for the Delhi assembly elections, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday named candidates for all 70 seats in the national capital. Of this, as many as 46 legislators are repeat candidates.
The document released by the party's political affairs committee named Manish Sisodia as the candidate from Patparganj, Satyendra Jain from Shakur Basti, Jitendra Tomar from Tri Nagar, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, Atishi from Kalkaji and SK Bagga from Krishna Nagar constituencies. While 15 of these turned out to be sitting MLAs, six fresh names were announced.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest from the New Delhi constituency. "Best wishes to all. Don't be complacent. Work v hard. People have lot of faith in AAP and u. God bless," he tweeted after the list was released this evening.
The Delhi assembly elections are scheduled for February 8, and the votes will be counted three days later. The Election Commission has already enforced the model code of conduct for the polls, which will see the ruling AAP facing off against the Congress and a resurgent BJP.
"As many as 46 sitting MLAs have been given tickets, 15 sitting MLAs have been replaced... While six women were given tickets by AAP last time, we have now given tickets to eight," news agency ANI quoted Manish Sisodia, who also serves as the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, as saying.
Although the Congress has finalised 14 candidates for the assembly elections, sources in the party said the names will be announced only after AAP and BJP have made their respective declarations. The BJP is expected to come out with its list later this week.
According to the final electoral roll published, over 1.46 crore residents are eligible to vote in the elections. There are a total of 1,46,92,136 people -- 80,55,686 men, 66,35,635 women and 815 belonging to the third gender -- in the final voters' list.
AAP had made a clean sweep of the 2015 assembly elections, bagging 67 seats to leave the BJP with just three. The Congress, which had ruled the national capital from 1998 to 2013, drew a blank.