Delhi Elections: Candidates who switched parties and got lucky

The February 8 Delhi election promises to dish up some interesting contests, as numerous turncoats will be contesting against parties, they were once a part of.

New Delhi:Amidst the huge turmoils erupting since long before the Delhi Assembly Elections 2020, there were a number of aspiring candidates who acted to their awakening and switched parties to be able to run for the elections.

However, things did not turn out pretty well for everyone. While some were lucky enough to get a ticket soon after switching parties, others turned into mere dissidents with no resort for themselves.

Aam Aadmi Party has itself fielded 70 candidates for the Assembly polls, including six candidates from rival parties.

Let's have a look at some of the candidates who got lucky after switching parties.

Alka Lamba

Alka Lamba, who rebelled from the Aam Aadmi Party is now contesting against it with Congress from Chandni Chowk.

She is contesting against AAP's Prahlad Singh Sawhney, who is a five-time MLA and a new entrant in the Congress.

Lamba was a student union leader with the Congress who first joined India Against Corruption Movement and then the AAP. She, however, turned out to be a rebel on grounds of differences with party chief Arvind Kejriwal and the senior leaders of AAP.

She went on to join the Congress last year.

Prahlad Singh Sawhney

Four-term Congress MLA Prahlad Singh Sawhney had joined AAP in October last year.

He is contesting from the Chandni Chowk seat against Alka Lamba.

The BJP’s candidate from the seat is Suman Kumar Gupta, a former councillor in the area who has twice unsuccessfully contested from the same seat before.

Out of the three, Sawhney seems to be the most confident given the claims of his party's support base and the amount of developmental work done by it in the area. Lamba, on the other hand, has asserted that she is the toughest contender among the three.

Adarsh Shastri

In Dwarka, former AAP MLA Adarsh Shastri is contesting with a Congress ticket against AAP candidate Vinay Mishra.

He had joined the party hours before it released its list of candidates.

Adarsh Shastri is the grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. He did not just leave AAP but also accused Kejriwal of demanding Rs 10 crore for the ticket from Dwarka.

While AAP denied the charges, interestingly, the candidature for this seat was given to Vinay Mishra, who recently left Congress to join AAP.

Shastri had quit as Apple's India sales head to join AAP in 2013.

Vinay Mishra

AAP candidate from Dwarka, Vinay Mishra is the son of Congress heavyweight Mahabal Mishra.

Mishra had won the same Dwarka seat five years ago on AAP's ticket.

The BJP’s candidate from the seat is a relatively lesser-known face, Pradyumn Rajput.

Anil Bajpai

BJP's candidate from East Delhi constituency is Anil Bajpai, who had rebelled AAP last year.

He is contesting this seat against Congress' heavyweight Arvinder Singh Lovely.

The AAP’s candidate in the seat is Naveen Chaudhary, is a new face in the party’s list.

Surender Pal Singh

The two-time Congress MLA from Timarpur seat had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.

BJP gave him a ticket from the same seat after he rebelled from Congress.

Poonam Azad

Poonam Azad, wife of Kirti Azad (Congress) is contesting from Sangam Vihar seat on Congress' ticket.

She is running against AAP MLA Dinesh Mohaniya.

Poonam had contested against former CM Sheila Dikshit in 2003 Assembly polls on a BJP ticket. She later quit BJP, alleging that she was being sidelined in the party.

She joined AAP in 2017 and later went on to join the Congress.

With the tenure of the present Vidhan Sabha ending on February 22, Delhi is all set to go for general elections.

With the voting scheduled to be held on February 8, campaigning for the election on 70 seats has reached its peak. Party leaders from BJP, AAP, and Congress have come forward to hit at each other on every possible issue including Shaheen Bagh, anti-CAA protests across the country and the performance of the present government.

In between rounds of accusations and strategies being made, political leaders from all three parties have tested their luck by rebelling against their own parties for the sake of power.

Changing parties has been a crucial decision for several leaders during the pre-election period. However, it will be worth the wait to witness how many leaders' efforts really bear fruit. Because interestingly, power does not come handy with rebellion.

Also, read: All you need to know about Delhi's electoral history