BENGALURU: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is making its debut in Karnataka assembly polls released its first list of 80 candidates on Monday. The party has said it will field candidates in all the 224 Assembly segments in the state, where Assembly elections are due by May.
The party's state chief Prithvi Reddy, upon releasing the list, claimed that being a fast-growing political party AAP has given prominence to the youth, farmers and women.
“These candidates (in the list) represent various sections of 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," he said.
The list consists of candidates with a background in activism and candidates from minority communities.
Former Congressman and advocate Brijesh Kalappa will take on BJP's Uday Garudachar from the prestigious Chikkapete in Bengaluru, the business hub of the IT capital.
Noted Kannada movie actor Tennis Krishna is declared as a candidate for Turuvekere in the Tumakuru district.
Interestingly, KPCC president D K Shivakumar's brother-in-law Sharat Chandra is the AAP candidate from Channapatna assembly constituency in Ramanagara district. He will take on the former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) and C P Yogishwar of BJP.
The first list includes Supreme Court lawyer Brijesh Kalappa, who will contest from Chickpet, former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officer K Mathai (Shanti Nagar), B T Naganna (Rajajinagar), Mohan Dasari (C V Raman Nagar), Shanthala Damle (Mahalakshmi Layout) and Ajay Gowda from Padmanabhanagar.
(with inputs from PTI)