Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is all set to contest Lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket from the East Delhi constituency. The BJP on Monday (April 22) confirmed the decision also announced its candidates for six of the seven seats in the national capital.

Gambhir has replaced Maheish Girri as the party's candidate and will take on Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress and Atishi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Last month, Gambhir was welcomed in the ruling national party in the presence of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad at an event in Delhi.

Addressing the media after receiving the warm welcome, Gambhir had said: “I am impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. I have contributed to the field of cricket and now hope to do more for the country.”

“I would like to thank Jaitley sir, Ravi Shankar Prasad sir and BJP for giving me this opportunity to be doing something special for the country. I have done all that I could in cricket and this is a fabulous opportunity for me to do something great for this country, take this party forward and make this country a far better place to live. With sir’s blessing, I am going to try my best,” he added.

Elated to have the former India cricketer in their party, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said: “Gambhir has excelled in his career and the party hopes to utilizes his talent. The BJP will benefit from his talent.”

In a career spanning over a decade, Gambhir amassed more than 10,000 international runs for India including 20 centuries. The southpaw is particularly known for his credentials in two of India’s most treasured ICC triumphs – 2007 ICC World T20 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. He was the highest run-scorer for India in the final of both the ICC events and it was those two knocks (75 in WT20 and 97 in CWC) that paved the way for India’s momentous world cup glory.

For his cricketing achievements, Gambhir was also conferred with the Padma Shri award from the Government of India last week.

(With PTI inputs)