Will Shazia Ilmi take on Sonia from Rae Bareli?

Whispers that the Aam Aadmi Party may be planning to field former journalist Shazia Ilmi from Rae Bareli, currently represented by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, got louder on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_1164871” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shazia Ilmi campaigning in the RK Puram constituency. Image courtesy: Shazia Ilmi[/caption] Ilmi is a member of the national executive of the Aam Aadmi Party. She contested the Assembly election in Delhi in December, losing from the RK Puram constituency by the slimmest of margins. A PTI report said Ilmi had been keen to contest from South Delhi or from Farukkhabad, the constituency of external affairs minister Salman Khurshid. The candidate for the latter seat was declared by the party in its first list released this weekend, according to which former journalist Mukul Tripathi will contest against Khurshid. Despite Ilmi’s request, the party is keen to field a known face from Rae Bareli and believe she might be the best candidate. “In Delhi, we don’t require a name as we already have supporters here. However, when we are taking on a strong candidate like Sonia Gandhi, we do require a known name,” a party source told PTI. No official statement was made on her possible candidature. Meanwhile, in some embarrassment to Ilmi, executive director of Transparency International India, Ashutosh Kumar Mishra, objected to the AAP leader’s comments to a newspaper on 17 February about corruption levels in Delhi falling during the 49-day tenure of the AAP government. “The information shared by Ms Shazia Ilmi is factually incorrect. We have not undertaken any study on corruption in Delhi and so there is no question of any such published or unpublished report,” Mishra’s statement said.