Congress fields maximum number of 'dynasts' in upcoming Delhi polls

Wives, daughters, daughter-in-law, son and brother, all linked to politicians, are in the fray for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls with the Congress fielding the maximum number of political dynasts. The Congress' candidate from Kalkaji, Shivani Chopra, is the daughter of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhash Chopra, while former Delhi Speaker Yoganand Shastri's daughter Priyanka Singh is contesting from the R K Puram seat.

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Poonam Azad, wife of Kirti Azad who is campaign committee chief of the Delhi Congress, is the candidate for the Sangam Vihar seat. She will be taking on AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya and S C L Gupta of the JDU. Poonam, 53, had contested against then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the 2003 assembly polls on a BJP ticket. She snapped her ties with the BJP in November 2016 after serving the party for more than 20 years, alleging that she had been sidelined.

Poonam then joined the AAP but just five months later, in April 2017, she switched to the Congress. Her father-in-law Bhagwat Jha Azad, who served as Bihar chief minister in 1988-89, also belonged to the Congress. Poonam's husband and former MP from Bihar's Darbhanga, Kirti, was suspended by the BJP in December 2015 after he alleged irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) when it was headed by former finance minister Arun Jaitley.

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Priyanka Singh will contest against AAP's Parmila Tokas and BJP's Anil Sharma in the R K Puram assembly seat. Singh, 41, is the vice-president of the Delhi Mahila Congress and has been politically active since 2008. Her father served as Delhi minister for food and civil supplies from 1998 to 2003, minister for health and social welfare from 2003 to 2008 and Delhi Assembly speaker from 2008 to 2013. Shastri represented the Mehrauli seat for the first two terms and the Malviya Nagar constituency in his third term.

The BJP too has candidates who are related to politicians. Rajiv Babbar, who has been fielded by the BJP from Tilak Nagar, is the son of former three-time MLA OP Babbar. The senior Babbar had held the Tilak Nagar seat in 1993, 2003 and 2008. Rajiv Babbar had twice unsuccessfully contested the polls from the seat in 2013 and 2015 and had lost to AAP's Jarnail Singh on both occasions.

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Brother of former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, Azad Singh is the BJP's candidate from Mundka. He is also the uncle of BJP MP from West Delhi Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma. In 2013, Azad Singh was elected as the mayor of North Delhi. He has been active in politics since 1998 and has also contested for the post of President of Government School Teachers Association, Delhi (GSTA).

The AAP too has fielded Preeti Tomar, wife of former Delhi minister Jitender Singh Tomar, from Tri Nagar. Her candidature was announced at the last minute after Jitender was dropped following the Delhi High Court setting aside his election for giving false declaration regarding his educational qualification in his nomination papers for the 2015 Delhi assembly polls.

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