New Delhi, January 8: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have reportedly reached an agreement on the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Delhi. According to a report, the AAP and Congress would contest three seats each out of seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, leaving one for former Union minister and rebel BJP leader Yashwant Sinha who will contest as an independent.
The resignation of Ajay Maken from the post of Delhi Congress president was the fallout of the agreement between AAP and Congress on the seat-sharing pact, the report said. According to the seat-sharing arrangement, AAP will contest on South, East and North East constituencies. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party has already declared candidates for these seats - Dilip Pandey, Atishi Marlena and Raghav Chadha. Lok Sabha Elections 2019: SP, BSP Seal Seat-Sharing Pact Without Congress, Leave Two Seats For Rahul Gandhi & Sonia.
The West, North West and Chandni Chowk parliamentary seats will be contested by the Congress. Negotiation is also underway between the AAP and Congress to strike a deal in three other states for Lok Sabha polls – Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had won all the seven seats in Delhi. In 2014, however, riding on the Modi wave, the BJP bagged all the seven seats.
Earlier, the AAP had approached the Congress for the alliance with a 5:2 formula in Delhi, which meant five seats for the AAP and two for the Congress. However, the coalition did not succeed as it was rejected by states units of the Congress.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 08, 2019 10:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).