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BJP's Gautam Gambhir Faces Tough Contest From AAP's Atishi In East Delhi

Will the cricketer-turned-politician be able to clinch the seat for his party?
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir has created ripples in political circles since he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was eventually announced as party candidate for East Delhi.

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

He is a former India opening batsman, who retired from cricket in December last year. Announcing his retirement, he had said that the “irritable noise of ‘It’s over Gauti’” has triumphed over his will to continue.

Gambhir made 58 Test appearances for India, accumulating 4154 runs at an average of 41.95. His 147 ODI games fetched 5238 runs, while in 37 T20 Internationals, he scored 932 runs.

He joined BJP in March this year and said he joined politics to find solutions to problems faced by people. He said his vision is clear and he will go to people with the agenda of development.

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Gambhir, according to ANI, said that the development of the whole of Delhi, not just East Delhi, will be his party’s priority.

In his “vision document”, he said conversion of Ghazipur landfill into a green space, utilisation of waste to generate energy, clean Yamuna project and a Delhi University campus in East Delhi are on his agenda.

Gambhir is the richest among all the candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha election in Delhi with total assets worth Rs 147 crore.

Clash with Atishi

Gambhir and Atishi have clashed with each other since their candidature was announced by their respective parties. AAP has accused Gambhir of circulating a pamphlet with “obscene and derogatory” remarks against Atishi.

The BJP nominee responded by saying that he will withdraw his candidature if AAP can prove its charges.

Atishi has also accused Gambhir of holding two voter identity cards from Rajender Nagar and Karol Bagh constituencies.

Gambhir has, however, reiterated that he has only one voter identity card and that AAP was making baseless allegations against him.

Atishi had raised an objection over the nomination papers filed by the former cricketer, but the complaint was rejected by the returning officer of the polls.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.