BJP fields Gambhir from East Delhi, Lekhi from New Delhi
NEW DELHI: Gautam Gambhir, the cricketer-turned-politician, is the BJP's candidate in the East Delhi constituency, the party said in a release Monday. Also on the list is Meenakshi Lekhi, a BJP parliamentarian, who is fielded in the New Delhi constituency.
Gambhir has replaced Maheish Girri as the party's candidate and will take on Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress and Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Lekhi is pitted against AAP's Brajesh Goel and Ajay Maken of the Congress.
On Monday, the BJP had released a list of five candidates in which it re-nominated four of its sitting lawmakers in the national capital that has seven Lok Sabha seats.
Earlier, the Congress on Monday released the list of candidates on six out of the seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi for the May 12 Lok Sabha polls, signalling a non-pre-poll alliance with the national capital's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The three-time former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will contest from the North East Delhi seat, while former Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken will contest from New Delhi, said a letter by Mukul Wasnik, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Dikshit will be facing the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari and the AAP's Dilip Pandey.
Senior Congress leaders and also former presidents of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) J.P. Agarwal (Chandni Chowk) and Arvinder Singh Lovely (East Delhi) are also in the list.