Prashant Bhushan submits list of 12 AAP candidates with dubious reputation

New Delhi: After AAP founder-member Shanti Bhushan, his son and imminent party leader Prashant Bhushan seems to be upset with Arvind Kejriwal.

According to a DNA report, Bhushan, who has been associated with Kejriwal since Anna Hazare's Lokpal movement has submitted list of 12 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates with dubious reputation.

The report states that Bhushan has given the list to party's internal Lokpal demanding a removal of the selected candidates.

"There were a lot of complaints about the kind of candidates selected, especially those who had been para-dropped into the party recently. Some of them were referred to the party Lokpal, who recommended the removal of two candidates,'' DNA quoted Bhushan as saying.

Recently, AAP cancelled the tickets given to Govardhan Singh, Rajindar Dabas. Both of them were to contest the Delhi elections from Mehrauli and Mundka respectively.

A DNA team went to the field for two days to find out if the charges are right against the remaining 10 AAP candidates. Evidence found against them and their continued presence in the party suggest that Kejriwal, despite statements to the media, compromised his party ideology by choosing these candidates.

Most of the 10 candidates have joined AAP recently from other parties and are considered to be very powerful in their respective areas. Many of these candidates are contesting from the Outer Delhi area.

Senior AAP leader and core committee member Sanjay Singh admits that 12 names were submitted by Bhushan.

Bhavna Gaur, the candidate from Palam, has been accused of misappropriating Rs 6 lakh from AAP's campaign funds, given to her by AAP candidate from Bijwasan, Col Devendra Sehrawat. She has also been fined by the Delhi District Court in a land-grabbing case, where she tried to capture the house of one Prem Lata, her own friend.

Pramila Tokas, the candidate from RK Puram, a sitting BSP councillor from Munirka, has been accused in an FIR, along with her husband Dheeraj Tokas, also a BSP member, of assaulting a scheduled caste woman.

Dheeraj Tokas was also one of the men to call a Khap Panchayat in Munirka, which ordered the eviction of North-Eastern tenants from the area. This was after the rape of a minor Manipuri girl, residing in Munirka. Dheeraj had contested the 2013 assembly election from the seat on a BSP ticket. The couple own several houses and apartments in Delhi worth over Rs 73 crore.

AAP candidate from Chattarpur, Kartar Singh Tanwar, has declared ownership of high-end SUVs. Tanwar is a municipal corporation chairman from the BJP. He rose from a junior engineer to become a man worth over Rs 1,000 crore and was reportedly part of a builder mafia in outer Delhi villages. Complaints have been filed against him with CVC, Lok Ayukta and CBI.

The Congress and the BJP candidates of Tughlakabad area fear campaigning with Sahi Ram Pehlwan around. Formerly with the BSP, AAP's candidate here is using both his men and muscle power to win the election. The rest stay at arm's length.

In his affidavit, Pehlwan has mentioned having two FIRs lodged against him. But documents with dna reveal that he has four FIRs against him in cases related to criminal intimidation, rioting, armed with deadly weapons, assault or criminal force to deter public servants, etc.

AAP volunteers had also complained to the party that he had rigged the internal election for choosing the candidate from the area.

AAP candidate from Badli, Ajesh Yadav, was the BSP candidate in 2008 assembly elections. He had campaigned for Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections and was the polling agent for Krishna Tirath of the Congress in Delhi. He is a real-estate king owning banquet halls, farm houses and properties worth hundreds of crores. He has 10 apartments in Dwarka and Rohini alone. His brother is facing kidnapping charges in a FIR registered with a local police station.

Other tainted AAP candidates listed are Sharad Chauhan from Narela constituency, Ved Prakash from Bawana, Haji Yunus from Mustafabad and Haji Ishraq Ahmad from Seelampur. All of them were recently inducted into the party and are embroiled in property disputes, grabbing cases and theft.