Delhi Election 2020: Atishi to fight from Kalkaji assembly seat

• The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released the list of the key candidates conntesting for elections.
• Atishi will contest assembly elections for the first time from Kalkaji seat in Delhi -- replacing MLA Avtar Singh.
• As her party, the AAP, led by incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal prepares for the next election on February 8, Atishi is also in charge of drawing up the manifesto.

As the national capital gears for elections next month, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released the list of key candidates contesting for elections. According to the list, Atishi will contest assembly elections for the first time from Kalkaji seat in Delhi -- replacing MLA Avtar Singh.

As her party, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by incumbent Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal prepares for the next election on February 8, Atishi is also in charge of drawing up the manifesto.

The educationist and activist, is also the only woman in the party’s political affairs committee.


Since the AAP won assembly elections in 2015, Atishi has been working towards the policy research for the party’s election manifesto. She also contested for the parliamentary seat from the East-Delhi constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but lost to cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir from the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But when Kejriwal goes asking for votes, her contribution will be his best selling point.

This is what makes Atishi, a political rookie, an important part of AAP

Atishi was the advisor to Delhi’s education minister Manish Sisodia until last year — when the Ministry of Home Affairs terminated her position saying that her appointment wasn’t passed by the national government.

In the last five years, the party allocated the biggest chunk of its budget for education each year since it came to power in 2015. Sisodia said, 8,000 new classrooms were built to overcome the infrastructure shortage in the state-run schools.

She reportedly pushed for parent teacher meetings across all government schools for the first time in Delhi. Her education reforms and initiatives include cracking down on fee hikes in private schools, separate school management committees and introduction of ‘Happiness curriculum’ to nurture students and instill moral values.

The state government schools also posted better results. The pass percentage increased by nearly 3% — touching 91% in 2018. While the private schools recorded slightly less at 88.3%.