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Journalism of Courage
The Congress on Thursday fielded former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s son Sandeep, who is also a former MP from East Delhi, against AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal from his home turf of New Delhi in the upcoming Assembly polls.
In addition to its current state president Devender Yadav, the list also has the names of two former Delhi ministers – Jai Kishan and Haroon Yusuf – along with former state unit president Chaudhary Anil Kumar, who filed the first criminal complaint against AAP leaders in regards to the excise policy case.
Following the meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) on Thursday, the Congress released a list of 21 candidates chosen on as many Assembly seats. According to a senior party leader, the party views these seats as “strong segments” where it believes it can “put up a strong fight if not win them” outright.
“These are seats where the party not only believes that it has a chance (of winning) but also those where there were no other alternatives than the candidates who were finally chosen,” a senior leader said.
“On the remaining seats, either there is more than one choice of candidate or the seats are being viewed as slightly weak in terms of the party’s prospects. We are in the process of finalising names on these as well and the second list will follow in the coming days,” the leader added.
According to the list, while Devender Yadav has been picked from Badli, former Chandni Chowk MP Jai Prakash Agarwal’s son Mudit has been fielded from Chandni Chowk. AAP rebel and sitting Seelampur MLA Abdul Rehman, who switched to the Congress on Tuesday, has been fielded from the same seat.
Besides Agarwal, the list also features the successor of senior Delhi Congress leader and former minister — Mangat Ram Singhal’s son Shivank from Adarsh Nagar.
The other picks include the party’s national spokesperson Ragini Nayak from Wazirpur, Rohit Chaudhary from Nangloi, Ali Mehdi from Mustafabad, Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran, and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar, among others.
The CEC meeting was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and other senior leaders.
| SN | Candidate Name | Constituency | Who’s he/she |
| 1 | Devender Yadav | Badali | Delhi Congress chief; 2-time MLA from Badali; party in charge of Punjab |
| 2 | Ragini Nayak | Wazirpur | Congress national spokesperson |
| 3 | Mudit Agarwal | Chandni Chowk | Son of Jai Prakash Agarwal, veteran Congress leader and 5-time MP from Delhi |
| 4 | Haroon Yousuf | Ballimaran | Former MLA from Ballimaran; 3-time minister in Delhi government |
| 5 | Sandeep Dikshit | New Delhi | Son of Delhi ex-CM Sheila Dikshit; 2-time Lok Sabha MP from East Delhi |
| 6 | Adarsh Shastri | Dwarka | Grandson of late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri; former AAP member |
| 7 | Jai Kishan | Sultanpur Majra | Five-time MLA from Sultanpur Majra |
| 8 | Rohit Chaudhary | Nangloi Jat | AICC national secretary; former NSUI national president |
| 9 | Anil Bharadwaj | Sadar Bazar | Chairman of Delhi Congress Communication dept; former MLA |
| 10 | Abhishek Dutt | Kasturba Nagar | Cong national secretary |
| 11 | Anil Kumar | Patparganj | Former Delhi Congress president |
| 12 | Abdul Rehman | Seelampur | Former AAP MLA who recently joined Congress |
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