File photo: Sharmistha Mukherjee
President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sarmishta will make her electoral debut in the city as she is among 15 candidates announced by Congress in its third list of candidates for Delhi Assembly polls.
She will contest from the prestigious Greater Kailash constituency in South Delhi where Congress was defeated by AAP's Sourav Bhardwaj in the assembly polls in 2013. 49-year-old Sarmishta, a Kathak dancer, has been participating in events and rallies of Delhi Congress for the last few months.
"I feel grateful, humbled in being given this opportunity to represent my party, Indian National Congress - the party of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Given my family background, personally for me it's an emotional moment.
"I thank the party leadership for bestowing this faith in me. I will do my best to serve my party and the people of my country to the best of my ability," she told the Press Trust of India.
The party has fielded former MLAs Veer Singh Dhingan and Vipin Sharma from Seemapuri and Rohtas Nagar respectively. A number of new faces also figured in the party's third list which took the total number of candidates announced so far to 64 for polls to 70-member assembly.
Another former MLA Malaram Gangwal will contest from Madipur and C P Mittal will take the electoral plunge from Hari Nagar. Madan Mohan has been fielded from Palam while Brahm Yadav has been nominated from Rajinder Nagar seat.
Former Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami, a Sheila Dikshit loyalist, had represented the Rajinder Nagar seat and faced defeat in the last assembly polls.
Praveen Kumar Bhugra has been nominated from Narela seat while another young face Mukesh Goel has been fielded from Adarsh Nagar. Jagdish Yadav has been made the Rithala candidate while former MLA Rajesh Lilothia will contest from Patel Nagar.
Anil Kumar has been nominated from Patparganj and Bansi Lal from Krishna Nagar while Rinku has been fielded from Gokalpur.