Gujarat: AAP to contest all seats in local polls, releases first list

NEW DELHI: Aiming to expand its footprints nationally, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday announced to contest all seats in the upcoming local bodies polls in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Releasing the party’s first list of 504 candidates in Ahmadabad, Delhi MLA and AAP’s national spokesperson Atishi said the residents of Gujarat were looking for an alternative as the BJP had been in power in the state for many years.

Elections to the local bodies — municipalities, municipal corporations, district and taluka panchayats — in Gujarat are likely to be held in February. “The AAP will contest on all seats in the local bodies’ polls in the state for the first time. With this, the party will enter the electoral politics of Gujarat as a strong alternative to the BJP. AAP will work to remove the BJP from power,” said Atishi.

“Not just the local bodies’ polls, but AAP will also contest the Vidhan Sabha elections as well as other polls,” she added. The party held a road show in Ahmedabad after releasing the list of candidates. With the AAP spreading its organisational reach, the party hopes to counter ‘Gujarat Model’ with ‘Kejriwal Model’ of governance.

Recently, it selected a young face, Gopal Italia, as president of its Gujarat unit to lead the campaign in the upcoming civic polls. Gulab Singh, party MLA from Matiala in Delhi, who is party co-incharge in the state, had earlier inaugurated the ‘AAP Mohalla Clinics’ in Ahmedabad.