As part of the deal, the AAP will contest 4 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while the Congress will field candidates in the remaining 3….reports Asian Lite News
The Political Affairs Committee of the Aam Admi Party, the topmost decision-making body of the ruling party in the national capital will hold a meeting on Tuesday, the party informed through a statement on Monday.
According to party sources, the meeting will feature discussions on the AAP’s choice of candidates for the 4 Lok Sabha seats that it will contest in the national capital.
After much haggling and extensive deliberations over weeks, the AAP and the Congress finally broke the deadlock and announced a 4:3 seat-sharing deal for the national capital ahead of the crucial general elections.
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As part of the deal, the AAP will contest 4 Lok Sabha seats in Delhi while the Congress will field candidates in the remaining 3. As part of the bargain, the grand old party will also set aside seats in Haryana, Goa and Gujarat while contesting the prized Chandigarh seat.
The meeting of the AAP’s highest decision-making body is scheduled to be convened at party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi residence.
At a joint press conference of top leaders of the two parties in the national capital earlier on Saturday, Congress general secretary and MP Mukul Wasnik said his party will contest from Chandni Chowk, North East and North West seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
In neighbouring Gujarat, the Congress will contest 24 of 26 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the remaining two seats Bharuch and Bhavnagar for the AAP.
In Haryana, the Congress will contest 8 of the 9 Lok Sabha seats while the AAP will contest the lone seat of Kurukshetra.
As part of the seat-sharing deal, the Congress will contest both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa as AAP failed to register its win in Goa.
The two parties also decided to go in for a friendly fight and contest separately in Punjab, a state where the AAP is the ruling party and the Congress is in the Opposition.
Made a mistake, says Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday submitted before the Supreme Court that retweeting the video which was allegedly defamatory and was circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018, was a “mistake”.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta directed the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case against him for the time being.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief has approached the apex court, challenging the February 5 order of the Delhi High Court refusing to quash the summons issued against him. The High Court had said that reposting alleged libellous content would attract defamation law.
The summon was issued in a defamation complaint lodged against him for retweeting a video of a YouTuber on the social media platform ‘X’.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the apex court, “There is no problem in admitting that this was a mistake if he had known that these would be the consequences.”
Singhvi requested an adjournment before the trial court, saying that they were prosecuting Kejriwal swiftly.
“They are prosecuting him very fast. They are hotfooting it. We will request an adjournment before the trial court,” he said. Justice Khanna said that Kejriwal need not appear in court for now, given the office he occupied. (ANI)
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