The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday cancelled the candidature of two of its members, who were being fielded from Mundka and Mehrauli Assembly constituencies respectively, after complaints against them in their ‘internal lokpal’. In the Mehrauli seat, Govardhan Singh was replaced by Naresh Yadav and in Mundka, Rajinder Dabas was replaced by Sukhbir Dalal.
This sudden removal of candidates triggered protests outside Arvind Kejriwal’s Kaushambi residence on Wednesday before Kejriwal left his house to file his nomination. Miffed supporters of two dumped candidates shouted slogans against the party. “Following an enquiry by the party’s internal lokpal, the party has decided to replace its Mehrauli and Mundka candidates,” said party leader Yogender Yadav.
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia accused Govardhan’s family members of transporting people in buses to the Prime Minister’s rally held at Ramlila Maidan recently. “The Mehrauli candidate Govardhan’s family members had transported people in buses to the Prime Minister’s Ramilia Maidan rally. That is not proper,” he said.
Denying the allegations, Govardhan said, “I had been campaigning for the last 15 days. But initially I did not want to contest. It was Kejriwal who forced me to contest saying I will be the face of the party in around 350 Jat villages in and around Delhi. This is an affront to the Jat community. This is a conspiracy.”