Lok Sabha polls 2014: AAP releases first list of 20 candidates

Updated: Sunday, February 16, 2014, 17:21 [IST]

New Delhi, Feb 16: After a short stint of power in Delhi politics, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday released its first list of candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The list was announced two days after the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stepped down.

The list features names of 20 candidates and the party has also decided candidates against Congress heavyweights like Rahul Gandhi, Salman Khurshid and Milind Deora.

The announcement for the list of candidates came hours after Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the AAP held a meeting on Sunday morning to discuss its preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

The nine members of the committee along with Sanjay Singh, Yogendra Yadav and Ashutosh attended the meeting at the residence of Arvind Kejriwal, who resigned on Friday as the Delhi chief minister after a 49-day stint.

According to a report, Poet-turned-politician Kumar Vishwas is all set to contest against Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, former banker Meera Sanyal who recently joined the party will contest against Milind Deora and Mukul Tripathy will contest against External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid from Farrukhabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Mayank Gandhi will take on former minister of state for home affairs Gurudas Kamat.

"Today we have announced the names of 20 candidates. The selection of all these candidates has been done on the basis of their work for the society," AAP leader Manish Sisodia said at a press conference.

"While choosing the candidates, we have tried to prevent corrupt and people with criminal charges from entering politics," Sisodia added.

However, the party has not yet fielded any candidate against the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier, sources in the AAP hinted that the person whom the party is planning to field against Sonia Gandhi is a known face in Uttar Pradeah but not across the country.

The AAP has reportedly received over 10,000 applications for contesting the Lok Sabha seats.

Here is the full list of 20 candidates:

Kumar Vishwas to contest against Rahul Gandhi

Ashutosh to contest against Kapil Sibal

Mukul Triparthy to contest against Salman Khurshid

Meera Sanyal to contest against Milind Deora from South Mumbai

AAP convener of Maharashtra unit, Anjali Dalmiya to contest against Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur

Yogendra Yadav to contest from Gurgaon

Social activist Medha Patkar to contest from Mumbai North East

Mayank Gandhi to contest against Gurudas Kamat

Baba Hardeve to contest against Mulayam SIngh Yadav

Subhash Pade to contest against Suresh Kalmadi from Pune