AHMEDABAD: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced its eighth list of 22 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, taking the number of contestants declared so far to 108.
The AAP is the only party in poll-bound Gujarat which has declared more than 100 candidates so far.
Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly are due in December this year.
AAP state unit president Gopal Italia said the party’s youth wing leader Yuvrajsingh Jadeja will fight elections from Dahegam in North Gujarat.
For Ellisbridge, Naranpura and Maninagar seats in Ahmedabad, the AAP will field Paras Shah, Pankaj Patel, and Vipul Patel respectively.
The party picked Koli leader Raju Solanki from the Bhavnagar West seat. Solanki joined the AAP last week.
Neither the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the opposition Congress has so far declared candidates for the upcoming polls.
Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has so far released its list of five candidates — from Danilimda (SC), Jamalpur Khadia, Surat (East), Bapunagar, and Limbayat segments.
The AAP is trying to wrest the opposition space from Congress and position itself as the main challenger of the BJP.
AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been aggressively campaigning in the state, holding rallies and town halls and making a host of pre-poll promises including free electricity and better education and healthcare facilities among others.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 99 seats, and Congress 77.
Source: Press Trust of India
