Top candidates to watch out for in Delhi Election 2020

Voting for the high-stakes Delhi Assembly election is underway. The assembly polls are being held in a single phase across 70 constituencies across the capital. As many as 1.46 crore eligible voters are expected to vote in the Delhi election. About 90,000 officials will be deployed to conduct the elections.

Let us take a look at some of the strong contestants from different constituencies of Delhi.

Arvind Kejriwal

Kejriwal, the current Chief Minister of Delhi, is seeking re-elections for a third consecutive term as a legislator in Delhi elections 2020. He is contesting against BJP’s Sunil Yadav and Congress candidate Romesh Sabharwal, and BSP candidate Ramgulam.

The IIT-Kharagpur graduate gained popularity in 2011 during the anti-corruption movement led by social activist Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill. A former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, he founded the NGO Parivartan in December 1999. In 2006, Kejriwal was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his use of the Right to Information Act to combat corruption.

After merely 49 days of a stint as a CM in 2014, Kejriwal resigned from the position due to his party’s inability to pass the anti-corruption ombudsman bill in the parliament.


Manish Sisodia

The deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia will be contesting from Patparganj against Ravi Negi of the BJP and Congress’ Laxman Rawat.

Sisodia was a former journalist who began his public life as an activist in the Anna Hazare-led Jan Lokpal movement along with Kejriwal.


Atishi

The former educationalist will be contesting from the South Delhi Kalkaji constituency. Atishi has previously lost the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections against BJP’s MP Gautam Gambhir by a massive margin of 4.7 lakh votes.

Atishi has been a member of the Aam Aadmi party ever since the party was founded in 2012.



Raghav Chadha

One of the prominent faces of the AAP, Raghav Chadha, is making his second attempt from Rajinder Nagar Constituency, after facing a marginal defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha general elections against BJP’s South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri.

A chartered accountant by profession, Chadha is a young spokesperson for AAP and plays a crucial role in the party’s communication efforts.



Azad Singh

Azad Singh, the brother of former Delhi chief minister late Sahib Singh Verma, is contesting from Mundka constituency for BJP. He also laid down the foundation of Loktantrik Adhyapak Manch which is a ruling panel in the Teachers Union currently.


Yogender Chandolia

Yogender Chandolia is the current standing committee chairperson of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Chandolia is contesting for the BJP from Karol Bagh constituency and was recently in the news for questioning the qualification of his opponent Vishesh Ravi from AAP.


Khushi Ram

BJP’s candidate Khushi Ram is contesting from Ambedkar Nagar constituency in Delhi. The constituency accounts for almost 30% of its electorate belonging to the Scheduled Castes.

In 2015 AAP’s candidate Ajay Dutt won the constituency with a margin of over 42,000 votes and is seeking re-election from the same constituency in the Delhi 2020 election.



Shivani Chopra

Shivani Chopra, the younger daughter of three times Congress MLA Subhash Chopra is contesting from the Kalkaji Assembly constituency.

The London law graduate recently joined her father in politics. “I am really excited. My aim is to carry forward Congress s’ tradition of progress and continue the chain of development started by Sheila Dikshit and broken by the AAP government,” told Shivani who is relatively new in politics.

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