Sheila Dikshit to contest from New Delhi constituency

New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) The Congress Wednesday announced its first list of 48 candidates for the Delhi assembly elections Nov 29 with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit contesting from the New Delhi constituency.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Vijay Jolly for this seat.

The other ministers from the state assembly whose names figure in the list include Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf from Ballimaran, Finance Minister A.K. Walia from Laxmi Nagar and Minister for Industries and Labour Mangat Ram Singhal from Adarsh Nagar.

The sitting Congress legislator from Okhla, Parvez Hashmi, succeeded in retaining his candidature from the constituency despite the controversy over the Sep 19 Jamia Nagar shootout in which two alleged terrorists suspected to be involved in the Sep 13 Delhi serial bombings were killed.

While two other suspected terrorists escaped, one was arrested. Delhi Police inspector M.C. Sharma was also killed in the shootout.