Delhi Elections: AAP’s First List Unveils 6 Shocking Surprises—Know the Hidden Messages!

Delhi Elections: Assembly elections (Delhi Assembly Elections 2024) are to be held in Delhi in January-February next year. The Elections Commission has neither issued any notification so far. Nor has it announced any date. But, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has surprised everyone by releasing the first list of candidates on Thursday. There are names of 11 candidates in the first list. There are also 6 such names in the list, which may be ‘surprising’ for other political parties, but for the Aam Aadmi Party itself it will be called a ‘shock’. Because out of these 6, 3 leaders have left BJP and 3 leaders have left Congress and joined AAP.

The current term of the Delhi Assembly is ending on 23 February 2025. Generally, the Election Commission completes the election process before the date of the end of the 5-year term of the current House.

There has been no announcement from the EC for Delhi yet.
Let us understand why AAP was in such a hurry to release the list of candidates for the assembly elections?
What message does AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal want to give by giving tickets to these 6 leaders who left BJP-Congress?
What message does Arvind Kejriwal want to give with this step:-

First of all, know who got a place in AAP’s list?

The first list of AAP candidates released for Delhi Assembly Elections 2025 includes the names of Brahm Singh Tanwar, BB Tyagi and Anil Jha. These three recently left BJP and joined AAP. Zubair Chaudhary, Veer Singh Dhingan and Sumesh Shaukeen have also been given a place in the list of candidates. These three recently left Congress and joined AAP.

AAP candidates list

Many political experts are calling the decision of releasing the first list of candidates so early as a masterstroke, foresight and strategy of Arvind Kejriwal. But there are many reasons behind his decision, which are important to understand. Let’s know why AAP took this decision:-

There will be more time to work on weak seats

AAP has announced candidates for 11 seats in the first list. The list includes those seats where AAP is weak. Out of these 11 seats, 6 seats are currently occupied by BJP. AAP’s hold is weak here. These 6 seats are Laxmi Nagar, Vishwas Nagar, Rohtas Nagar, Ghonda, Karawal Nagar and Badarpur.

Abhay Verma of BJP is the MLA from Laxmi Nagar Assembly. OP Sharma of BJP is the MLA from Vishwas Nagar. Jitendra Kumar Mahajan of BJP is the MLA from Rohtas Nagar. Ajay Mahawar is the MLA from Ghonda. Mohan Singh Bisht from Karawal Nagar and Ramveer Singh Bidhuri from Badarpur are the MLAs. These seats are also very important in terms of vote bank. That is why AAP has finalized the candidates on these seats first. So that the party gets enough time to strengthen itself on these seats.

The second reason to counter anti-incumbency 

Could be anti-incumbency. AAP has been in power in Delhi since 2015. In these 10 years, it is obvious that there is an anti-incumbency wave. It has been seen many times that if a single face represents a single seat for a long time, then it becomes monotonous. Perhaps that is why AAP has changed the seats of many MLAs in its first list. New faces have been given a chance. 

Efforts to improve the image and instill enthusiasm in the workers 

Recently, many allegations have been leveled against the AAP government. In the liquor policy case, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh have even been jailed. All three are currently out on bail. At the same time, Satyendra Jain, who was the Health Minister, has also been in Tihar Jail for a long time. Recently he has returned on bail. Now after coming out of jail, Arvind Kejriwal is focusing on his party. He has said many times that if I am honest, the people of Delhi will give their blessings again. At the same time, by releasing the first list of candidates much before time, AAP has worked to instill enthusiasm in its workers. So that the party workers unite and get involved in the work of the organization again.

Political analysts believe that by announcing candidates first on selected seats, AAP’s aim is to actually gain an edge over other parties, especially BJP. The party has also got more time
to campaign for itself by announcing candidates first on seats held by BJP. They will also get enough time to do door-to-door campaigning.

Invitation to leaders of other parties

At least 50% of the 11 candidates of Aam Aadmi Party have come from other parties, i.e. they are turncoats. There are 4 candidates who have joined AAP recently. By doing this, AAP has tried to give a message to other parties that if their rebel leaders join AAP, the party will welcome them with open arms.

Aam Aadmi Party has also given an emotional message in its list. It has repeated the 3 faces

who lost the 2020 elections. AAP has again nominated Deepak Singla from Vishwas Nagar, Sarita Singh from Rohtas Nagar and Ram Singh Netaji from Badarpur. All three had lost the 2020 elections. At the same time, Durgesh Pathak, who lost the election from Karawal Nagar, which is considered a stronghold of BJP, is currently an MLA from Rajendra Nagar. AAP has fielded councilor Manoj Tyagi from here. By doing this, the party has tried to tell that it does not abandon its defeated colleagues. 

How was the 2020 election in Delhi?

Assembly elections were held in Delhi in February 2020. In this, Aam Aadmi Party had won a huge majority. AAP won 62 out of 70 seats. 8 seats went to BJP’s account. Congress could not even open its account. Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister. AAP’s vote share was 53.8%. BJP’s vote share was 38.7% and Congress’s vote share was 4.3%.

Kejriwal’s tenure was full of difficulties

However, Arvind Kejriwal had to face many difficulties during his tenure. In the ED-CBI investigation into the Delhi liquor policy case, first the name of AAP government’s number 2 and education minister Manish Sisodia came up. He was arrested. Health Minister Satyendra Jain was sent to jail in a money laundering case. Then Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh was arrested. The heat of the investigation also reached Arvind Kejriwal. 

Arrested in money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Kejriwal on 21 March 2024 in a money laundering case related to the liquor policy case. After 10 days of interrogation, he was sent to Tihar Jail on 1 April. On May 10, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail for 21 days to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections. He had to surrender on 2 June. Then on July 12, he got bail in the ED case. But, the CBI arrested him. 

Resigned from CM post after coming out on bail

In September, the Supreme Court granted bail to Kejriwal in both the cases with some conditions. A few days after coming out of jail, he resigned from the post of CM. After this Atishi was made the Chief Minister. Atishi took oath as the 9th Chief Minister of Delhi on 21 September.

On what conditions did Kejriwal get bail?

-Arvind Kejriwal will not be able to go to the CM office.
-He will not sign any government file.
-He will not make any public statement related to the Delhi liquor policy case.
-He will have to fill a bond of Rs 10 lakh each.
-He will not obstruct the investigation or try to influence the witnesses.
-He will continue to cooperate in the investigation and will appear in the trial court if needed.

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