Prithvi Reddy to take on KJ George as AAP announce candidate list

This is the first time the party will be contesting elections in Karnataka.

Bangalore, 20 March 2018: The Aam Aadmi Party’s announcement of candidates for upcoming Karnataka elections sees state convenor Prithvi Reddy take on Congress’ KJ George from Sarvagnanagar. The party, which is in power in Delhi, released 18 names in their first candidature list. .

Pankaj Gupta, national secretary of Aam Aadmi Party said that the candidates were chosen on the basis that he or she isn’t ‘criminal, communal or corrupt’. He also added that a lot of scrutiny was done in the selection process.

In 2014 general elections, AAP had contested from Karnataka, but only managed a meagre 0.8 per cent share. The 2018 Karnataka assembly election though will be the party’s first in the state.

State convenor  Reddy said that the party will not necessarily field candidates in all  224 constituencies,  if they don’t mirror the same ambition and thoughts of the party.

The party has decided to field Renuka Vishwanathan from the Shanthinagar constituency, which is currently held by Congress’ NA Haris. Also, Chandrakant Revankar was chosen to fight former CM BS Yeddyurappa.

A source in the party downplayed any expectations from the elections, stating their primary aim was to perform well and make a name in the state.

The source also added that the party doesn’t have any unrealistic expectations, but is aiming to win a few seats.

On the recent issue surrounding Arvind Kejriwal and his apologies to leaders, Reddy said that he spoke with half of the party MLA’s, who understood the reasoning behind Kejriwal’s decision, but were unhappy with him for not informing them beforehand.