The AAP has initiated the process to choose a suitable woman candidate to replace Ms Bandana Kumari as the deputy speaker of the Delhi Assembly. Senior party MLAs Rakhi Birla, Pramila Tokas and Bhavana Gaur are among the front-runners for the post.

Ms Kumari had sent her resignation to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, taking moral responsibility for the party’s not-so-well results in the MCD bypolls. The Shalimar Bagh MLA was unhappy with the party choosing Anvika Mittal as its candidate for the MCD bypolls.

The party has six women legislators, two of whom, Sarita Singh (Rohtas Nagar) and Alka Lamba (Chandni Chowk), are parliamentary secretaries so they are unlikely to be chosen for the post. The sources said the party has to make a choice between Ms Birla (Mangolpuri) and Ms Gaur (Palam).