Delhi elections 2015: Since winnability is key, AAP holds candidate selection process behind closed doors

NEW DELHI: The immediate provocation for Shanti Bhushan's outburst against Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal was the candidate selection process for this election. Unlike earlier when the party would ask each hopeful to get a hundred signatures and then open up the selection process, this time it was behind closed doors.

The party has fielded around 12 candidates in these assembly elections who had joined the party in the past few months and have a strong political background. Three of these have also been changed, two as recently as Wednesday, after the party's Lokpal verified complaints against them. Despite several layers of scrutiny that AAP claims to have, the process has thrown up some dubious people. This has happened even as some members quit to join BJP.

AAP defends itself saying that while no system is foolproof, it is still the only party willing to take action against its people. Its critics say the candidates were replaced only after protests by workers.

"The new members joined barely a few months back and evidently to contest the elections," said sources. "This has made the party look vulnerable in the face of insinuations that such people might have bought their tickets. It has also led some volunteers to rebel since older members did not get tickets. The party increasingly had to take some hard decisions based on winnability of a candidate." That has definitely compromised its stand on evolving a different political culture.

The party's defence is that not all members of other political parties are corrupt, and if one of them happens to have money, it cannot be held against him. "Sahi Ram, former deputy mayor of Delhi and a member of BSP, worked extremely hard during the Lok Sabha elections and is quite capable of fighting a good election. Do we count him as an outsider? Similarly, SD Sharma, our candidate from Ghonda, left Congress seven years back. There are some others like Naresh Balyan who is a sitting councillor from BJP who has been fielded from Uttam Nagar, Pramila Tokas from RK Puram, who is an independent councillor, and Ajesh Yadav from Badli who was from BSP. These are good candidates who have a strong base in their areas," said a senior member.

The three candidates replaced this time would have represented outer Delhi seats where the party failed to register its presence in 2013 and where it desperately needs to win seats to be able to get a majority.

Several layers of scrutiny have been put in place but complaints continue to pour in against candidates which are then vetted by the Lokpal. Ashutosh, AAP's Delhi convenor, said: "In 2013 we went for the election with one candidate less as he was removed at the last minute. Even we cannot guarantee an absolutely clean system and there are always some loopholes but at least we have a system where complaints can be addressed. Some people have been confronted as much as seven to eight times. No other party has such a system in place."