Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will not be contesting upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi. The Aam Aadmi Party announced this on Sunday, adding that the party, will however, will field a 'strong candidate' for the seat. The AAP convener who had unsuccessfully contested from the holy city in 2014 against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came in second.

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"Kejriwal will not contest the Lok Sabha polls, as he wants to give focus on Capital city. The AAP will contest on all the Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa. The party will contest on some seats in Uttar Pradesh, and final modalities will be worked out by February. Apart from Varanasi, the party will contest from seats in eastern and western Uttar Pradesh, where the organisation is strong," AAP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh reportedly told a news agency over phone.

Singh further said in Delhi his party is working on education, health, farmers, power and providing drinking water. "If we foray into national politics, then our issues will be --- education for all, free education to economically weaker sections of the society, ending unemployment and implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission," Singh said.

On a recent statement made by Kejriwal to not vote for the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Singh said, "Kejriwal was quoted out of context. He had said that in a meeting in the national capital that if you want to defeat the BJP, then do not waste your vote by casting it in favour of the Congress. His statement was in the context of Delhi, from where the AAP is contesting on all the seats."

The Delhi Chief Minister, meanwhile, recently said that there is "pro-incumbency" in favour of the AAP-led government because of the work it has done in the last three years.