23 new faces in AAP’s list of 70 candidates for Delhi Assembly polls

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will lead the Aam Aadmi Party in the Deli assembly elections. (HT PHOTO)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday released the list of candidates for all 70 seats for Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February 8.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest from New Delhi while Deputy CM Manish Sisodia to contest from Patparganj.

There are 23 new faces in the list, including Raghav Chadha, Atishi and Durgesh Pathak .

Watch | Delhi Elections 2020: AAP releases list of candidates, 15 sitting MLAs replaced

Raghav Chaddha will contest from Rajinder Nagar while Atishi will fight from Kalkaji. Durgesh Pathak will contest from Karawal Nagar from where AAP rebel Kapil Mishra had won in 2015

Atishi who contested the Lok Sabha elections last year from East Delhi constituency had lost to BJP’s Gautam Gambhir while Raghav Chaddha had lost to Ramesh Bidhuri , also of the BJP, inSouth Delhi.

“The Aam Aadmi Party’s Political Affairs Committee has approved the names of candidates for all 70 seats for the Delhi Assembly elections. Sitting MLAs will contest on 46 seats while 15 have been dropped. There are 8 women among the 70 . In 2015, there were 6 women,” Sisodia said..

Former five-term MLA from Matia Mahal constituency, Shoaib Iqbal who joined AAP from the Congress last week, has also been named in the list to contest from the same constituency..

The results will be declared on February 11.

The AAP which swept the elections in 2015 winning 67 seats, is up against the BJP which won three seats and the Congress which drew a blank.

The AAP has been the first off the blocks to name its candidates with both the BJP and Congress yet to come out with their lists.

The AAP, which is fighting under chief minister Kejriwal’s leadership, has challenged the BJP to name its chief ministerial candidate. Although BJP MP Manoj Tiwari is widely believed to be the saffron party’s rival for Kejriwal, it has not yet named him as the CM candidates.