New Delhi: The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday declared cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir as it’s candidate to contest from the East Delhi parliamentary constituency.
Besides fielding Gambhir, the party also announced the candidature of sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi from the New Delhi seat.
Gambhir is pitted against Congress candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely and Aam Aadmi Party`s (AAP) Atishi Marlena.
Lekhi, on the other hand, is up Ajay Maken of the Congress and AAP`s Brajesh Goyal.
Gambhir, a renowned cricketer and also a Padma Shri awardee, joined the BJP on March 22 in the presence of Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, BJP`s Mahesh Giri had defeated AAP`s Rajmohan Gandhi by a margin of 1,90,463 votes from East Delhi seat.
On the other hand, Lekhi, a sitting MP from New Delhi, had defeated Congress` Ajay Maken by a margin of 1,62,708 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the same constituency.
Delhi will go to polls on May 12.