Delhi Politics: In the Delhi Assembly elections, Aam Aadmi Party is looking ahead of BJP and Congress in terms of election preparations. AAP released its second list for Delhi elections today. In the second list of 20 candidates, tickets of many sitting MLAs have been cut while many faces from other parties have managed to get tickets. AAP had also given tickets to leaders from BJP and Congress in its first list of 11 candidates.
The most notable in AAP’s second list was Patparganj assembly seat, from where this time famous teacher and motivational speaker Avadh Ojha has been fielded in place of former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. This time Manish Sisodia will contest from Jangpura assembly seat instead of Patparganj. In such a situation, it is important to know why AAP was forced to change Manish Sisodia’s seat and what are the electoral prospects for Awadh Ojha in Patparganj.
Sisodia had barely won the last election
Experts who keep a close eye on Delhi politics were already predicting that this time Sisodia will not contest elections from Patparganj assembly seat. Actually, there is a big reason behind sending Manish Sisodia from Patparganj assembly seat to Jangpura. This can also be understood by looking at the results of the assembly elections in 2020.
Former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has won the last three assembly elections. Despite this, this seat was not considered safe for him this time. During the last assembly elections, BJP’s Ravindra Singh Negi had given a tough challenge to Sisodia and Sisodia somehow managed to win by three thousand votes. This time also, strong election preparations have been made by BJP due to which Sisodia could get stuck on this seat.
No good feedback in space survey
After his arrest in Delhi’s liquor scam, Manish Sisodia had to stay in jail for a long time and during this time he remained completely cut off from his area. Development work in their area was also affected. Along with this, AAP also wanted to save Sisodia from anti-incumbency.
Sources associated with AAP say that this time an internal survey has been conducted by the party in various assembly constituencies. During this survey, the party has not received good feedback in Patparganj assembly constituency. For this reason, the party did not see good electoral prospects for Manish Sisodia in Patparganj this time.
Why is Jangpura safe for Sisodia?
The party decided to field its big candidate from Jangpura to avoid the possibility of electoral defeat. Jangpura assembly seat is considered safe for Sisodia. Aam Aadmi Party’s Praveen Kumar had won this seat in 2015 and 2020. In 2015, he was victorious by around 16 thousand votes and in 2020 by more than 23 thousand votes. In such a situation, there are good election prospects for Sisodia in Jangpura.
What are the election prospects for Awadh Ojha?
Avadh Ojha is also being considered an important reason behind contesting elections from Patparganj assembly seat. Actually, Ojha is a resident of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh and Patparganj district has a sizeable population of people from Purvanchal and Uttarakhand. BJP has maintained a strong hold among these people and in such a situation, AAP wants to challenge BJP by fielding a new face in the form of Awadh Ojha.
Avadh Ojha has a good image as a teacher and has been very popular among the youth. In such a situation, AAP hopes that by contesting Awadh Ojha from Patparganj, the party can gain the support of the voters and youth of Purvanchal.
However, AAP’s Delhi state president Gopal Rai claimed that former Deputy CM Sisodia himself had proposed to leave the Patparganj assembly seat for Avadh Ojha. Even though this claim is being made by AAP, it is believed to be a well thought out strategy behind changing Sisodia’s seat.
