The AAP on Tuesday announced the names of five candidates who will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls under the INDIA opposition bloc.
In a video message, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal announced the names of the candidates, adding that in a “revolutionary step”, a candidate belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community will be fielded from the East Delhi constituency, which is a general seat.
“AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar will contest from East Delhi constituency,” he said.
Announcing the other names, Kejriwal said Somnath Bharti will contest from the New Delhi seat, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi and Sahiram Pehalwan from South Delhi, while former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Gupta will contest from Kurukshetra in Haryana. Gupta is also the AAP state unit president of Haryana.
The announcement came after a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party.
The meeting took place on Monday after the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party made the announcement about seat-sharing under the INDIA bloc’s banner where AAP’s share is four out of seven seats in Delhi, one in Haryana, and two seats in Gujarat.
Kejriwal said no other party has fielded a candidate belonging to the SC community on a general seat, and usually such a candidate is made to contest from a reserved seat. He asserted that the AAP believes in equality and merit of the person, and not in caste or creed and therefore, has faith that a capable candidate can contest from any seat, irrespective of caste.
He added that Kulwant Singh, who also belongs to the SC community, contested the Mohali seat and emerged victorious.
AAP MLA Kuldip Kumar, the son of a sanitation worker, expressed hope that the step will be welcomed by all and people will bless the party candidates with victory.
In Delhi, the AAP is contesting on four seats of East Delhi, New Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi, while the Congress will fight it out on three seats of Chandni Chowk, North-West Delhi and North- East Delhi.