Congress declares six candidates in Delhi; Sheila Dikshit to helm North East Delhi seat, party yet to decide name for South Delhi

The Congress on Monday declared names of its candidates for six out of seven seats in Delhi for the ongoing Lok Sabha election 2019. The grand old party has fielded Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president and former chief minister Sheila Dikshit from North East Delhi while JP Aggarwal has been given the charge of Chandni Chowk in central Delhi.

Congress Central Election Committee announces candidates for the ensuing elections to the Lok Sabha from NCT of Delhi. pic.twitter.com/MLnHg8eHlP

— Congress (@INCIndia) April 22, 2019

Meanwhile, former DPCC chief Ajay Maken will be contesting from the New Delhi seat while Delhi’s former education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely has got a ticket East Delhi constituency. A five-time MLA, Lovely held important portfolios such as education, tourism, urban development and transport as a minister. In the Assembly elections, he was elected from the Gandhi Nagar seat for the first time in 1998 and did not lose a single election since then. He, however, did not contest the 2015 elections when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won by a thumping majority and formed the current government in the capital. On the other hand, from West Delhi, party’s Purvanchali face Mahabal Mishra has been given charge. Intrestingly, the party is yet to announce the name of its south Delhi candidate. According to a report by The Indian Express, the probable names for the same are Ramesh Kumar Chauhan and Sushil Kumar. However, the announcement has shut down the possibility of a Congress alliance with AAP — the two parties had previously agreed to a 4-3 formula before talks were disrupted and flip-flop kept happening almost every day until finally, Congress announced the name of its candidates on Monday. Both the parties have not been able to reach an agreement in Haryana either, as AAP announced the name of three candidates in the state on Sunday while announcing the failure of alliance talks in Delhi and it’s, therefore, sealing it’s decision to go solo. The BJP, meanwhile, has fielded Dr Harsh Vardhan and BJP state unit president Manoj Tiwari from Chandni Chowk and North East Delhi seats respectively. The saffron party has given West Delhi to former Delhi chief minister Saheb Singh Verma’s son Parvesh Verma South Delhi command to Ramesh Bidhuri.