AAP pitches for clash of heavyweights in LS 2014

New Delhi: In a bid to push the fortunes of Aam Aadmi Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the party, on Sunday declared its first list of candidates. The declaration came two days after the party supremo, Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as the Delhi Chief Minister. 

“Today we have announced the names of 20 candidates. The selection of all these candidates has been done on the basis of their work for the society,” said Manish Sisodia.

Medha Patkar, Anjali Damania, Yogendra Yadav, Meera Sanyal and Kumar Vishwas are among 20 people who feature in the first list of the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidates for the Lok Sabha elections announced here today. 

Social activist Medha Patkar will contest from Mumbai Northeast constituency while former banker Meera Sanyal will fight the electoral battle from Mumbai South, against Milind Deora. From Mumbai Northwest, Mayank Gandhi will be the party candidate. 

Anjali Damania will take on Nitin Gadkari at Nagpur, a stronghold of former BJP president.

Flamboyant AAP leader Yogendra Yadav will contest from Gurgaon in Haryana while poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas will be fielded from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi constituency against Rahul Gandhi.
Yogendra Yadav will also be in charge of the party’s efforts for Haryana’s assembly polls, which are scheduled later this year. 

Party spokesperson and former journalist Ashutosh, will contest from Chandni Chowk, a constituency currently represented by Law Minister Kapil Sibal. Another journalist, Jarnail Singh, will be in the fray from west Delhi. 

Mukul Tripathi will fight from Uttar Pradesh’s Farukkhabad constituency that is represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. 

Baba Hardev Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh state civil service officer, is being fielded from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh. The constituency is represented by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh. 

Khalid Parwez, a social activist, is to contest from Moradabad constituency, which Congress MP and former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin represents. 

Lawyer HS Phoolka will contest from Ludhiana, the constituency of Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.

Subhash Ware will fight from Pune, which is represented by Suresh Kalmadi. 

The decision on the candidates was taken after a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC).