AAP candidate against Sonia Gandhi withdraws.

published on April 9, 2014

LUCKNOW: In a setback to Aam Aadmi Party, party candidate from Rae Bareli, Justice (retired) Fakhruddin, who served in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh high courts, refused to contest the election.

He was pitted against Congress president Sonia Gandhi. AAP has now fielded a local social worker Archana Srivastava. Only a day is left for nomination.

AAP spokesperson Vaibhav Maheshwari said that Justice Fakhruddin has withdrawn on personal ground. “Since only one day was left for nomination, party had no time to go through other names and decided to field its local leader Archana Srivastava,” he added.

Srivastava (60), he said, is lawyer and a social worker who has been working in Rae Bareli for long and also took part in Anna movement for Jan Lokpal.

Justice Fakhruddin is the eighth AAP candidate in Uttar Pradesh who has either refused to contest or has been removed since the announcement of elections.