The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today withdrew today of its candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections after allegations that they were "tainted".
Social activist Mahender Singh, the AAP candidate from North West Delhi withdrew his candidature to fight the Lok Sabha elections after the party received complaints that he has pending cases against his name. While, social entrepreneur Khalid Parvez contesting from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh will be no longer fight from an AAP ticket after receiving complaints that he was a bank defaulter.
“We received some complaints against Singh and Parvez that they are tainted and we conveyed this to them following which they decided to withdraw their candidature,” said a party official. Deepak Bajpai, media coordinator of the party, however, said that they have withdrawn their candidature citing "personal reasons".
Bajpai said that, from the North West Delhi constituency, they are now looking for some candidate from the Valmiki community, a Dalit group as it is a reserved seat.
Bajpai said that even Rakhi Birla, the ex-Cabinet minister of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi could be given a ticket. "There is not much time left and we can even field Birla in that case as a lot of supporters want her to contest the elections," said Bajpai.
This might raise a few eyebrows as this will go against the rule set out by the party's highest authority body -- Political Affairs Committee that no ex-Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Delhi will be given an LS ticket. The party, while being in power in the national capital, had expelled its MLA Vinod Binny, after he turned rebellious on not getting an LS ticket from East Delhi and its chief Kejriwal had stated that no MLA would be allowed to fight the general elections. However, an official said that they may give the ticket to Birla in case there is "no credible face" to contest from the seat.
A person close to Singh said that he had withdrawn his candidature citing "health reasons." The source said that Birla's cousin Jamna Devi, who studied journalism with Birla, is also a strong contender from the seat and may be asked to fight the LS elections.
This is not the first time that someone has withdrawn from contesting the elections from AAP. Recently, Savita Bhatti, an artist and wife of the late actor Jaspal Bhatti, returned the LS ticket from Chandigarh to the party after being disappointed with the functioning of the local party unit. Later, former Miss India and actress Gul Panag was announced as the party candidate from the Chandigarh seat.