Delhi Assembly polls: Manish Sisodia to contest from Jangpura; AAP releases second list of candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party released its second list of candidates for the Delhi Assembly election on Monday. Former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia will contest the election from Jangpura seat.

The ruling party in Delhi has announced the names of 20 candidates for the upcoming polls in the national capital. The party released its first list of 11 names in November and the list included six leaders who had recently shifted parties.

As per the list, Educator Avadh Ojha, who recently joined the AAP has been fielded from Patparganj seat. Earlier, Sisodia represented the constituency. The list also includes the names of leaders Jintender Singh Shunty and Pal Singh Bittu, who recently joined the party after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party. Shunty has been fielded from Shahdara while Bittu will contest the election from the Timarpur constituency. 

Shunty has been fielded in Shahdara replacing sitting AAP MLA and Speaker Ram Niwas Goel.  Pal Singh Bittu has been fielded in place of Dilip Pandey, AAP's chief whip in the Delhi Assembly. 

The elections for the 70-seat Delhi Assembly are due in February next year. AAP leader and former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said candidates will be chosen for the election based on their work, public opinion, and their winning chances. In the 2020 Delhi Assembly polls, AAP won 62 of 70 seats.

The election is crucial for the party whose core leadership is facing corruption and money laundering cases. Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned from the CM post soon after his release on bail from prison in cases related to the Delhi liquor policy scam, called the election will be his ‘Agni Parkisha’.