BJP fields Gautam Gambhir from East Delhi, Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi

The party also announced its sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi as its candidate from the New Delhi seat.

BJP fields Gautam Gambhir from East Delhi, Meenakshi Lekhi from New Delhi

New Delhi: The BJP's central election committee on Monday declared cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir as the party's candidate for contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the East Delhi parliamentary constituency.

The party also announced its sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi as its candidate from the New Delhi seat.

Gambhir is pitted against Congress candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely and Aam Aadmi Party`s (AAP) Atishi. 

 

Lekhi, on the other hand, is up against AAP`s Brajesh Goyal and Congress` Ajay Maken.

Gambhir, 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.

Meanwhile, 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 for the seven Lok Sabha seats at stake. 

The counting of votes will take place on May 23.