Congress finalises four candidates in Delhi, Sheila Dikshit may contest from East Delhi: Sources

With the negotiations on finalising an alliance with the AAP reaching a dead-end, the Congress has finalised its candidates for four out of seven seats in Delhi and an official announcement is likely to be made soon, according to sources quoted by news agency PTI.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko had on Thursday said that the names of all seven candidates will be announced together on a later date.

According to the sources, the party is yet to finalise its candidates for East Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi constituencies. They said the party is likely to field former Union minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chouhan from North West seat, former state unit chief Ajay Maken from New Delhi and former MP J P Agarwal from North East Delhi constituency.

The sources said Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit's name was also under discussion as a probable from East Delhi seat.

"The talk of her being fielded from East Delhi started after the possibility of an alliance with the AAP diminished. Her son Sandip Dikshit is also being considered as a candidate from East Delhi and if he declines, she may be fielded from that seat," one of the sources said on Thursday.

However, according to the list of UPA candidates for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections – available with the Wikipedia – Sheila Dikshit is the party nominee from East Delhi, Mahabal Mishra from West Delhi and Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar from South Delhi.

The Congress on Friday said its talks with the AAP for an alliance has failed as the Arvind Kejriwal-led party took an "impractical stand" of a tie-up in four states, but indicated that possibilities for an electoral understanding between the two were still alive for Delhi.

Chacko announced that the party will go alone, but maintained that it is still willing to have an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party provided the tie-up is restricted only to the national capital.

The AAP, however, said the tie-up can only be done on 33 Lok Sabha seats across four states and one Union Territory.

Soon after the Congress announcement, the AAP announced a tie-up with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) for Haryana. The JJP was launched by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Dushyant Chautala, following a power struggle in the state's main opposition INLD last year.

Uncertainty over alliance between the AAP and the Congress has been continuing for weeks now with the former demanding an alliance on 33 seats of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Goa and Chandigarh.

The talks between the two sides derailed after they failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing in Delhi and Haryana.

However, sources said the AAP in a last-ditch attempt may offer a 5:2 seat sharing formula to the Congress in Delhi.

Earlier, the AAP was ready to give three seats to the Congress in Delhi but now it might consider giving it just two seats, the sources added.