NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced its first set of 11 candidates for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections, slated for early 2025. The list was finalized during a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee, led by national convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
AAP leader Gopal Rai announced that most of the candidates are contesting from constituencies that the party does not currently hold. The first list also features former BJP and Congress leaders who have recently joined AAP.
The candidates included in the first list are:
- Chhatarpur: Brahma Singh Tanwar (Former BJP)
- Kirari: Anil Jha (Former BJP)
- Vishwas Nagar: Deepak Singla
- Rohtas Nagar: Sarita Singh
- Laxmi Nagar: B.B. Tyagi (Former BJP)
- Badarpur: Ram Singh Netaji
- Seelampur: Chaudhry Zubair Ahmad (Former Congress)
- Seemapuri: Veer Dhingan (Former Congress)
- Ghonda: Gaurav Sharma
- Karawal Nagar: Manoj Tyagi
- Matiala: Sumesh Shokeen (Former Congress)
In the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, AAP achieved a commanding victory, securing 62 out of 70 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 8, while Congress failed to secure any seats. Arvind Kejriwal retained his position as chief minister. However, his tenure has been marked by significant controversies. In March 2024, Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering investigation related to the scrapped Delhi excise policy. He was arrested again by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in June 2024, becoming the first sitting chief minister to be arrested. He was granted bail in September 2024 after the Delhi High Court upheld his plea.
