East Delhi AAP Candidate Atishi Marlena On Key Poll Issues

East Delhi MP candidate of AAP, Atishi Marlena joined Political Shakti founder, Tara Krishnaswamy on a Facebook live to talk about her candidacy, constituency and why it’s crucial for her to reach out to the common people.

Marlena has always taken interest in public policy. She is a Rhodes scholar and went to the Oxford University among many other prominent achievements. She believes it is important that people from all communities recognize the work that her party has done particularly in education and health sector.

“I also feel that people shouldn’t vote for me because I went to Oxford or I am a Rhodes Scholar, etc. but they should vote for me because a lot of politicians come into the field and campaign saying if you vote for me then I will do something for you, but I am coming to the election battlefield saying that I have already done some work. Hence, if you were to send me to parliament then I can do so much more,” she said.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Atishi Marlena is an AAP spokesperson who will be contesting in the Lok Sabha Election 2019 from the East Delhi constituency.
• She is a Rhodes scholar and has gone to the Oxford University among many other prominent achievements.
• Member of the Political Affairs Committee of AAP and recently appointed as the Lok Sabha in-charge for the East Delhi constituency, Marlena was also appointed as a spokesperson of the party in 2013.
• She feels that women’s reservation is extremely essential to come into politics because politics is difficult for anyone coming from a marginalized community.

Talking about why she chose to run for politics and skipped working with local governing bodies, she said, “Even though I haven’t been the elected member, I have been working with the state party and in the past few years we have realized that given the complex governance structure of Delhi, it is not enough to just have the state government in place, one needs to be a member of parliament.”

Member of the Political Affairs Committee of AAP and recently appointed as the Lok Sabha in-charge for the East Delhi constituency, Marlena was also appointed as a spokesperson of the party in 2013. She spoke up on why she was selected to contest in this Lok Sabha election and said, “I assume it is because of the kind of work I have been doing in transforming the government school structure in the city. The efforts of the party is to present different kinds of candidates as compared to mainstream politicians, but really it’s the party’s choice who they want to field for a constituency.”

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I also feel that people shouldn’t vote for me because I went to Oxford or I am a Rhodes Scholar, etc. but they should vote for me because a lot of politicians come into the field and campaign saying if you vote for me then I will do something for you but I am coming to the election battlefield saying that I have already done some work. Hence if you were to send me to parliament then I can do so much more.

Marlena also appealed for more women in parliament as she said that the issues faced by a particular social segment are better known by those members. “It is not like men cannot be empathetic to women’s issues, they can but often they might not even be aware of those issues. And there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed for genuine equity for women in terms of education, safety, access to employment, etc. but rather than addressing these issues, the real way forward is to bring more women into decision-making position and when women join decision-making position, a lot of these issues are likely to be addressed. I personally feel that women’s reservation is extremely essential to come into politics because politics is difficult for anyone coming from a marginalized community.”

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