Rajinder Nagar bypoll: Kejriwal to hold roadshows for 3 days, seek votes for Durgesh Pathak

PTI, Jun 16, 2022, 4:37 PM IST

In the run-up to the bypoll for the Rajinder Nagar assembly seat, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold roadshows for three consecutive days in the constituency starting Friday to campaign for AAP candidate Durgesh Pathak, a member of the party’s national executive and political affairs committee.

The Election Commission is scheduled to conduct the bypoll on June 23 and the counting of votes will take place on June 26.

The bypoll was necessitated after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha, who was the MLA from the constituency, was elected to Rajya Sabha from Punjab in March.

”Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold roadshows in Rajendra Nagar assembly constituency on June 17, 18, and 19, and seek votes for party’s leader Durgesh Pathak who is contesting by-election from the seat,” the party said.

Battle lines for the bypoll have been drawn with 14 candidates filing their nominations.

Of the candidates in the fray, the AAP, BJP, and Congress have fielded one candidate each while three others are from unrecognized parties. Another eight candidates are contesting the bypoll as Independents.

While the BJP has fielded Rajesh Bhatia, Prem Lata is the Congress candidate.

With the AAP, BJP, and Congress candidates in the fray, the Rajinder Nagar bypoll is expected to be a triangular fight.

The AAP has been winning the seat for the last two consecutive terms since the Arvind Kejriwal-led party came at the helm in 2015 while the BJP had last won the seat in 2013.

The AAP’s Vijender Garg Vijay had won the seat in 2015 and it was retained by the party in the 2020 assembly polls with Chadha defeating the BJP’s R P Singh by a margin of over 20,000 votes.

For the last six terms since 1993, Congress could win the seat only once in 2008.