After days of uncertainty AAP finally picks up Rajpura woman to contest from Patiala

PATIALA: After days of uncertainty the core committee of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday finalised the name of Rajpura based woman Neena Mittal to contest the elections on the party ticket from Patiala. She will be facing three-time MP and former Union minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur who is contesting from Congress, sitting MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi who is a nominee of the Punjab Democratic Alliance and former Akali minister Surjit Singh Rakhra in the elections.


A graduate in economics and political science from Punjabi University, Patiala, Neena is a party volunteer who worked for the party during the 2013 Delhi assembly election. She also campaigns for Dr Dharamvira Gandhi during the 2014 Lok Sabha when the later was contesting on an AAP ticket. She was later appointed the zone coordinator for women wing of Patiala in 2016 and later elevated as the state vice president in 2017. She is presently working as president trade and industry wing.

Hailing from the business family she has also remained associated with a number of social organisations running an orphanage and charitable trusts to help poor homeless people, widows, old-aged and handicapped. She also holds the position of National Executive Member of Federation of Association of Small Industries of India (FASII) and is the Director of Lovish Health Care Private limited and Lan Sports private limited.

Her grandfather-in-law Dila Ram of Raman Mandi had contested the first assembly election post-independence in 1952 and later he served as president of the municipal committee of Raman Mandi for 10 years. He was the founder president of Hindu High Senior Secondary School in the same area. Her father in law Om Prakash Mittal served as municipal commissioner of Raman Mandi. Her family has business interests in Punjab, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and Delhi.

Neena said AAP had won the last assembly election with 33% vote share and this time also the party vote bank in Patiala was intact. She said the Congress had lost the faith of the electorate over the failure of the state government in delivery what the party had promised before the elections while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was struggling to keep afloat following the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report. She said the political landscape was ripe for AAP to repeat the its victory of 2014 elections.