Delhi assembly polls: Arvind Kejriwal to contest from New Delhi, CM Atishi from Kalkaji

In its fourth and final list for the 2025 Delhi assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded convenor Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi and Chief Minister Atishi from Kalkaji.

The list of 38 candidates features other key leaders of the party as well, including Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, Gopal Rai, Satyendra Kumar Jain, and Durgesh Pathak.

Elections to the 70-member assembly of the national capital are scheduled to be held in February 2025.

Ahead of the assembly polls, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal recently ruled out any possibility of a pre-poll alliance with the Congress. He said that his party will fight the election on its own strength.

Saurabh Bharadwaj will contest the elections from Greater Kailash, while Gopal Rai has been fielded from Babarpur. AAP's final list shows Satyendra Kumar Jain to be fighting the battlefield from Shakur Basti and Durgesh Pathak from Rajinder Nagar.

Some other candidates include Ramesh Pehalwan from Kasturba Naga, Raghuvinder Shokeen from Nangloi, Imran Hussain from Ballimaran, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar, and Sanjeev Jha from Burari.

Earlier, speculations were rife over a possible alliance between AAP and the Congress, the two INDIA bloc partners. The rumors caught heat after Kejriwal attended an opposition group meeting over the alleged EVM and VVPAT machines tampering in the recently held Maharashtra assembly elections.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal's party and the Congress had contested in an alliance in the national capital as well as other parts of the country.

In the run-up to the high-octane assembly polls, there is also a high possibility of Kejriwal facing the sons of two former Delhi chief ministers.

While Congress has already fielded former chief minister Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep Dikshit for the Delhi polls, the BJP is likely to field Parvesh Sahib Singh, son of ex-CM Sahib Singh Verma.

Singh was quoted as saying on Dec 14 that he has been asked to prepare to contest the elections from the New Delhi constituency, the seat which Kejriwal will also be fighting for.

“AAP's 10 years of misrule have brought Delhi to the brink of ruin,” he added while promising accessibility and responsiveness, vowing to be with residents round the clock in their happiness and sorrow.

Earlier this week, Arvind Kejriwal announced five guarantees for auto drivers in Delhi. Among the key guarantees are ₹1 lakh for marriage of daughters and life insurance worth ₹ 10 lakh.

The AAP chief has also promised to provide ₹ 2,500 on Diwali and Holi as an allowance to purchase school uniforms.

Urging Delhi residents to vote his party to power, Kejriwal last month also issued a warning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said that if the saffron is voted to power then Delhiites would once again face power cut problems.

“Besides, electricity is free in Delhi, but it is very costly in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar," he said while taking a jibe at the BJP-ruled states.