AAP wants to contest 6 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi; 8 in Guj, 1 in Goa with Congress

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced candidates for two Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and one in Goa, and said it wants to contest six of the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats, 8 of the 26 seats in Gujarat, and one of the two seats in Goa in alliance with its INDIA bloc partner Congress.

Addressing a press conference in the national Capital after the Political Affairs Committee meeting led by AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, party’s national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said that based on its past electoral performances in Delhi, the Congress does not deserve to contest more than one Lok Sabha seat.

The party also announced its candidates for two Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and one in Goa.

AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak said Venzy Viegas will contest from the South Goa seat, while Chaitar Vasava and Umesh Bhai Makwana from Bharuch and Bhavnagar seats in Gujarat respectively.

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Pathak said AAP will announce candidates for six of the seven Delhi Lok Sabha seats soon, leaving one seat for Congress.

He, however, did not name the six seats the AAP wants to contest and the one which it wants to leave for Congress.

All of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi are currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2014.

Pathak added that he was making the announcements with a heavy heart given there was no headway in the seat-sharing talks with Congress yet.

“Congress has zero Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, it has zero seats in Delhi assembly. Out of 250 wards, the Congress won only 9 seats in the (2022) MCD election. Even on a merit basis, the Congress party does not deserve a single seat according to the available data. But only data is not important. As per the alliance dharma and out of respect, we are ready to offer one seat to the Congress. We are not announcing candidates today. I hope that seat-sharing talks for Delhi are finalised soon so we can get to work. If no conclusion is made soon, in the next few days we will announce candidates for the six seats and start our work,” Pathak said.

No response was immediately available from Congress and the story will be updated whenever we receive the same.

As part of the opposition grouping INDIA bloc, AAP and Congress have been in seat-sharing talks for several weeks for different states including Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi but there has been no breakthrough on the same.

Last week, AAP said it was tired of discussions and wanted to launch preparations for the Lok Sabha polls at the earliest citing paucity of time.

Kejriwal had already on February 10 said that his party will contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and Chandigarh all by itself.

The AAP leader, however, clarified that his party continues to be part of INDIA alliance, and expected that they alliance will accept the candidates AAP has announced.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that the AAP and Congress do not trust each other and are trying to somehow form an alliance due to BJP’s fear.

“There is a serious trust crisis between the Congress and AAP. Congress knows that AAP will betray it at the first opportunity and the AAP knows that the Congress will so the same. The people of Delhi have decided to give all the seven seats once again to the BJP because BJP is committed to their growth and development unlike the AAP which is just trying to use the opportunity to make its political expansion,” said Kapoor.