AAP Candidates File Nominations For 5 RS Seats

Anupama Dash March 21, 2022

1 minute read

Chandigarh, March 21: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates, including spokesperson Raghav Chadha and cricketer Harbhajan Singh, on Monday filed nomination papers for the five Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant from Punjab.

Former IIT Delhi Assistant Professor Sandeep Pathak, Chancellor of Lovely Professional University Ashok Mittal and Ludhiana-based businessman Sanjeev Arora also filed their nomination papers as AAP candidates.

Chadha, 33, an MLA from Delhi’s Rajinder Nagar, has been associated with AAP founder and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal since the age of 22. A Chartered Accountant by profession, Chadha was co-in-charge of the AAP for the February assembly elections in Punjab which the party won by sweeping 92 of the 117 seats.

When elected, he is likely to be the youngest member of the Rajya Sabha. The low-key Pathak has been publicly praised by Kejriwal for overseeing the AAP election campaign and strategy in Punjab which decimated virtually all its rivals. Harbhajan Singh, a reputed spinner, played for India and in the Indian Premier League from 1998 to 2021.

Mittal is also the founder of the Lovely Professional University while businessman Arora is founder of the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Care Charitable Trust. Punjab has seven Rajya Sabha seats. The five vacancies are arising as the term of Rajya Sabha members Partap Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo (Congress), Shwait Malik (BJP), Naresh Gujral (SAD) and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa expire on April 9.

The term of other two Rajya Sabha members — Balwinder Singh Bhunder (SAD) and Ambika Soni (Congress) — will end on July 4 this year. The last date for filing of nomination for the five Rajya Sabha seats from Punjab is March 21, the scrutiny will take place on March 22 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 24.

The election will be held on March 31. The AAP, which now has three members in the Rajya Sabha but none in the Lok Sabha after the resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, is set to win all five seats now falling vacant.