The second list of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates for the Delhi Assembly polls is expected this week. The party after much caution has shortlisted the names of all the 70 candidates wherein the second list is expected to have 15-20 candidates.
“It is almost public knowledge of the ones not getting tickets this time around. We have already shortlisted the candidates for 70 seats based on our ground level analysis and party observers’ reports. The second list will mostly have names of all the MlAs who are going to get the tickets,” said Nagendra Sharma, AAP spokesperson.
Several leaders told The Pioneer that given the fact that finding big names as candidates for the Assembly poll became a challenge for the party, a dominant view is that it should also field most of the seven candidates who may have lost the lok Sabha polls since their performance was “not bad”.
The party is relying on the substantial amount of weight and brand value these faces carry. AAP had fielded Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Rajmohan Gandhi, TV anchor-turned politician Ashutosh, journalist Ashish Khetan, Rakhi Birla, Jarnail Singh, Professor Anand Kumar and Colonel Devinder Sehrawat for 2014 elections. So the party had decided that it would consult these candidates and announce their names as part of the list of candidates.
When contacted most of them officially said that they would contest if the party asks them to, but confirmed sources within the AAP have told The Pioneer that, none of them are “keen” on contesting the polls, except Jarnail Singh who has already got a ticket from Tilak Nagar.