Delhi assembly elections: Cong releases 1st list of 21 candidates, ex-MP Sandeep Dikshit among faces

Former Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit has been fielded from New Delhi constituency, currently represented by former CM Arvind Kejriwal.

The Congress on Thursday released its first list of 21 candidates for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. 

The Congress on Thursday released its first list of 21 candidates for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections

Former Lok Sabha MP Sandeep Dikshit has been fielded from New Delhi constituency. Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav will contest from Badli seat. Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak will contest from Wazirpur. 

The other prominent candidates include party national secretary Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, ex-minister Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran, ex-DPCC president Chaudhary Anil Kumar from Patparganj and others. 

Sandeep Dikshit, the son of late former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, will be contesting in the seat once represented by his mother. Sheila Dikshit was defeated by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the 2013 assembly elections. 

Kejriwal won the seat again in 2015 and then in 2020 elections. The AAP has not named a candidate for the New Delhi seat. 

Cong eyes comeback in Delhi

The Congress contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with INDIA bloc ally AAP in Delhi. However, both parties are contesting election in the capital alone.

“Aam aadmi party will be fighting this election on its own strength in Delhi. There is no possibility of any alliance with congress,” Arvind Kejriwal posted on X.

The grand old party, which governed Delhi from 1998 till 2013, failed to win a single seat in the last two elections. 

The Delhi assembly elections due by February 2025 are a critical test for the AAP as it seeks to secure a third term following its sweeping victory in the 2020 elections when it won 62 out of the 70 seats.

On Monday, the AAP released its second list of 20 candidates for the upcoming polls, dropping 18 sitting MLAs and moving two others, including former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, to new seats.

Sisodia will now contest from Jangpura, while Avadh Ojha, an educator and recent AAP entrant, will fight from Sisodia's current Patparganj seat.

The AAP issued its first candidate list for 11 constituencies on November 21 and fielded six turncoats from the BJP and the Congress.