How to create a Python dictionary with double quotes as default quote format?

couples = [
['jack', 'ilena'],
['arun', 'maya'],
['hari', 'aradhana'],
['bill', 'samantha']]
pairs = dict(couples)

{'arun': 'maya', 'bill': 'samantha', 'jack': 'ilena', 'hari': 'aradhana'}

import json
json.dumps(pairs)

print '{%s}' % ', '.join(['"%s": "%s"' % (k, v) for k, v in pairs.items()])