Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections from his current constituency, New Delhi, according to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) fourth and final list of candidates released today. The list also reveals that prominent AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, and ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Gopal Rai, will retain their seats in the upcoming elections. Atishi will contest from Kalkaji, Bharadwaj from Greater Kailash, and Rai from Babarpur.
With the release of this list, AAP has now finalized candidates for all 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly. Shortly after the announcement, Kejriwal expressed full confidence in the party’s preparedness for the elections. He critiqued the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claiming they lack a strong leadership presence, a clear plan, or a vision for Delhi. He further stated that the BJP’s sole agenda appears to be targeting him personally. “The BJP is invisible. They don’t have a Chief Minister face, a team, or a vision for Delhi. Their only slogan is ‘remove Kejriwal’. Ask them what they have done for five years, and they will say, ‘we abused Kejriwal’,” Kejriwal said.
He also emphasized that AAP has a clear vision for the development of Delhi and its people, backed by an educated team of leaders. “We have a list of work we have done in 10 years. Delhi residents will vote for those who work, not those who abuse,” he added.
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The Delhi Assembly elections are expected to be held in February. AAP’s final candidate list is also seen as a response to the BJP’s challenge after they released their second list of candidates. BJP had previously claimed that several AAP leaders were reluctant to contest due to fear of defeat, particularly after former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia moved from Patparganj to Jangpura.
A key name in AAP’s final list is Satyendra Jain, a senior leader and former minister who has been re-nominated from the Shakur Basti constituency. Jain had been arrested in 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate on charges of money laundering, but was granted bail in October. His re-nomination signals AAP’s continued support for him. Additionally, in Uttam Nagar, AAP has fielded Pooja Balyan, the wife of sitting MLA Naresh Balyan, amid controversy over her husband’s remarks about making roads “as smooth as Hema Malini’s cheeks.”
Other notable candidates on the fourth list include Durgesh Pathak, who will contest from Rajinder Nagar, and Amanatullah Khan, who will again contest from Okhla. Somnath Bharti will also contest from his current seat, Malviya Nagar. In response to the list, Delhi BJP chief Virendraa Sachdeva criticized AAP’s candidate selection, accusing the party of having an “anti-women” mindset.
