Kejriwal Rejigs Seats Of Key Leaders To Beat Anti-Incumbency For The Fourth Time

With elections to the 70-member Delhi Assembly scheduled to be held by February, the incumbent AAP was first off the block to come out with its list of 20 candidates. Does this indicate confidence of a party ready to clinch a 4th term? Not quite. The curious bit about the list were massive changes in the list beginning with former deputy CM Manish Sisodia and former minister Rakhi Bidlan. The two top leaders had been asked to change their seats while18 fresh faces had entered the fray. The buzz is Arvind Kejriwal and CM Atishi could also switch their seats. Switching of constituencies after three elections for Sisodia — who had done a jail term for liquor scam — showed that he had perhaps lost political ground in his home turf — Patparganj. He opted to stand from neighbouring Jangpura, a seat which has a mixed population of Sikhs and Muslims. “In the last elections, our candidate against Sisodia gave him a good scare — he was from Uttarakhand and had brought down Sisodia’s margin from 30,000 to 3,200 votes,” pointed out BJP leader RP Singh. Sizeable presence of Uttrakhandi voters has now forced AAP to field Avadh Ojha, a UPSC coaching teacher. But does the move to change seats indicate AAP is on the wane in Delhi? Not quite, concede BJP sources. It is not that the AAP is unpopular. The party may have become weak in several areas. That is why many of their leaders are jumping ship and joining the BJP. “Many are joining us hoping to win an election. AAP stalwarts like Kailash Gahlot who recently joined us are so unpopular that they can’t win again. They are sheer dead weight,” says a Delhi BJP source.