The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced Balbir Singh Jakhar as its candidate for the West Delhi parliamentary seat for the Lok Sabha elections, PTI reported.
Jakhar, 45, is the president of the Dwarka Court Bar Association and chairman of the co-ordination committee of the All Delhi District Court Bar Association, The Indian Express reported. He is also a member of the Bar Council Of Delhi, Rohini Court Bar Association, and New Delhi Bar Association.
On March 2, the party had declared its candidates for six of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. Atishi will run for Parliament from the East Delhi seat, Gugan Singh from North West Delhi, Raghav Chadha from South Delhi, Dilip Pandey from North East Delhi, Pankaj Gupta from Chandni Chowk, and Brijesh Goyal will stand from the New Delhi seat.
Elections in Delhi will be held on May 12, and the results will be declared with the rest of the country on May 23.
Delhi minister Gopal Rai at a press conference on Sunday said Jakhar was also associated with the India Against Corruption Movement from 2011, led by social activist Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal.
Rai, the party’s Delhi convenor, said the Aam Aadmi Party waited for a long time but had to announce Jakhar as its final candidate because it could not afford to lose more time due to the “Congress’ state of confusion” over an electoral alliance in the national Capital.
“We waited for a long time, hoping the Congress would respect the mood of the nation to get the country rid of the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah,” said Rai. “But the Congress has shown extremely irresponsible behaviour in Delhi over the last three months. There’s very less time and we have now decided to go full throttle.”
The party had earlier said that it would not align with the Congress. Rai had said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi had refused a proposal for an alliance during a meeting of Opposition parties in February.
Kejriwal last month had said his party was preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections alone as the Congress has ruled out an alliance with it. The Aam Aadmi Party chief had claimed he was “tired of trying to convince the Congress” for an alliance.
Rai said the Congress’s victories in the Assembly elections last year in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan had created excitement among Muslims. However, the party’s “attitude in Delhi” made the community realise that the Congress is not serious, he claimed.
“The Congress’ state of confusion has led to disappointment among people,” said Rai. “The Congress national leadership and its state president are making contradictory claims every other day.”
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