Mahabal Mishra, AAP's Candidate For The West Delhi Constituency (Image: Facebook/Mahabal Mishra)

Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced the Lok Sabha election candidates for Haryana and Delhi. The candidate list includes three sitting MLAs and two former MPs. Mahabal Mishra, the former Congress lawmaker, will be the AAP candidate in the West Delhi parliamentary constituency.

Mahabal Mishra is the former Lok Sabha MP from West Delhi. The veteran leader was also a three-time MLA from the Dwarka Assembly constituency. Mahabal Mishra”s son, Vinay Mishra, is currently the AAP MLA from Dwarka. Mahabal Mishra began his political journey as a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) councilor in 1997. He also served as a member of the Delhi Development Authority.

In 1998, Mahabal Mishra won the Nasirpur legislative assembly constituency and was elected to the Delhi Assembly for the first time. He repeated his victory in the 2003 Delhi Assembly polls from the same constituency. During the 2003 polls, Mahabal Mishra secured 45,948 votes. He also contested the Dwarka seat in the 2008 Assembly election with a winning margin of 13,981 votes. While the Congress leader secured 43,608 votes, BJP candidate Parduymn Rajput managed to get only 29,627 votes.

Congress fielded Mahabal Mishra from the West Delhi parliamentary constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Mahabal Mishra made a significant victory and became MP from this seat by securing 4,79,899 votes. BJP candidate Jagdish Mukhi stood second with 3,50,889 votes.

Mahabal Mishra is a popular leader from the Purvanchali community. It is worth mentioning that the Purvanchal community is an important factor in Delhi politics. In January 2020, Congress suspended Mahabal Mishra for anti-party activities. In November 2022, Mahabal Mishra joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

West Delhi is the sitting seat of the BJP. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP candidate Parvesh Singh Verma won the second term with a record margin of over 5.7 lakh votes.