New Delhi: Dilip Kumar Pandey, Ram Niwas Goel, Rituraj Jha, Gulab Singh Yadav, and counting. As the Delhi assembly polls inch closer, one after another prominent face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), associated with the party for years, is making way for imports from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress to contest from their seats.
In past elections too, the AAP replaced sitting MLAs. In 2020, it had fielded new faces in around 26 of the 70 seats in Delhi. But only nine of them were defectors from either the BJP or the Congress. Eight of them won the elections.
This time, though, the AAP has already named six defectors as its candidates. And the declaration of the candidatures of some more inducted from the BJP and the Congress is in the offing.
On Friday, Dilip Kumar Pandey took to social media to announce that it was time for him to focus on tasks other than handling the party’s organisational affairs and contesting polls, indicating that he was aware that he was being dropped from the Timarpur constituency.
Hours later, Surendra Pal Singh Bittu, who had contested against Pandey on a BJP ticket in 2020, joined the AAP in the presence of former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
The two-time former Congress MLA had briefly joined the AAP in 2017, only to switch over to the BJP later. This time, he is expected to contest from Timarpur as the AAP’s candidate.
Pandey, on the other hand, has been among the most prominent leaders of the AAP as well as the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. Currently the AAP’s chief whip in the Delhi assembly, he has served as the party’s Delhi convenor in the past.
In 2019, he also contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Northeast Delhi constituency. An accomplished poet and author, Pandey composed the AAP’s 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign song and received praise for his relief efforts during the Covid lockdown.
“After fulfilling the responsibility of building an organisation in politics and then contesting elections, now it is time to do something else while staying in the Aam Aadmi Party. Whoever contests the election in Timarpur assembly, Arvind Kejriwal will become the Chief Minister of Delhi, and all of us Delhiites will together ensure this,” Pandey posted on social media platform ‘X’.
On Thursday, hours before former Shahdara MLA Jitender Singh Shunty, who was with the BJP, joined the AAP, the party’s sitting MLA from the seat and Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel announced retirement from politics, citing his advanced age.
In a letter to Kejriwal, the 76-year-old Goel wrote, “You have always given me utmost respect for which I shall forever remain indebted to you. The party and its MLAs have also always given me respect. Due to my age, I want to distance myself from electoral politics. I want to assure you that I will continue to serve with all my heart and soul by remaining a part of the AAP.”
A Padma Shree awardee, Shunty is popularly known for being the founder of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Seva Dal, which helps cremate unclaimed bodies.
AAP insiders attributed the move to replace established faces to the party’s unwillingness to take any chances this time with its internal surveys showing a tight race with the BJP in many seats. “The party has taken a ruthless approach and is replacing candidates likely to lose. Winnability is key,” a senior AAP leader told ThePrint.
The AAP’s first list of 11 candidates declared on 21 November featured six defectors.
In Kirari, sitting MLA Rituraj Jha saw himself replaced by two-time BJP legislator from the seat Anil Jha, who recently switched over from the BJP. While asserting that he remains a loyal soldier of Kejriwal, Jha made his disappointment evident by sharing posts, made by others, against his one-time BJP rival on ‘X’.
In Matiala, Gulab Singh, who has served as the AAP’s Gujarat in-charge, had to give way to former Congress MLA Somesh Shaukeen.
The other imports from Congress to have been made candidates by the AAP include Chaudhry Zubair Ahmad from Seelampur, Veer Singh Dhingan from Seemapuri, and Brahm Singh Tanwar, formerly with the BJP, from Chhatarpur.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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