AAP unveils first list of Karnataka Assembly elections candidates

AAp's Karnataka State President., Prithvi Reddy

In a bid to increase its presence nationally, Aam Aadmi Party released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly bypolls.

The list released on March 20, comprises of 80 candidates who will contest the Assembly elections scheduled for next month. The party plans to field candidates in all 224 Assembly seats in the state.

The list released by the Aam Aadmi Party includes renrenowned people such as Supreme Court lawyer Brijesh Kalappa, who will contest from Chickpet, former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officer K Mathai (Shanti Nagar), BT Naganna (Rajajinagar), Mohan Dasari (C V Raman Nagar), Shanthala Damle (Mahalakshmi Layout), and Ajay Gowda from Padmanabhanagar, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.

The party is also fielding Sharatchandra Reddy from the Channapatna constituency, who is a relative of Congress state president DK Shivakumar.

Prithvi Reddy the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Karnataka state president said that it is loyalty and not the family legacy that is a criterion for the party.

"It does not matter who is whose relative; they have chosen AAP over Congress, which is sufficient," Reddy said.

At a press conference in Bengaluru, party state chief Prithvi Reddy talked about the experience of AAP's candidates and said, "These candidates (in the list) represent various sections of the society. The average age of the list of our candidates is only 46 years. More than 50 per cent of our candidates are below the age of 45," Reddy said.

The AAP State Preisdent also said that the candidates had been chosen after a survey. He added that 69 candidates are new faces, and the list comprises youth, women, farmers, and people from all walks of life.

"Our list has highly educated people. We have 13 advocates, three doctors, and four IT professionals in the first list," the AAP leader said.