Political Parties

AAP's first Lok Sabha list of probables

AAP's first Lok Sabha list to be short, but high-impact; Meera Sanyal, Mayank Gandhi & Ilyas Azmi among probables

NEW DELHI: The much-anticipated first list of Aam Aadmi Party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections will be high on impact but low on numbers. According to senior leaders, AAP will announce not more than 20 candidates next week, but the list, which is expected on January 20, will boast names of strong contestants.

Former banker Meera Sanyal, besides senior AAP leaders Mayank Gandhi, Ilyas Azmi and Kumar Vishwas are among the probable names for the first list, said people aware of the selection process. Sanyal, former chairperson of the Royal Bank of Scotland in India, had contested and lost as an Independent in the 2009 general elections from South Mumbai.

Azmi, a two-time MP from UP and former member of the BSP, is also a strong contender because of his experience.

Although Gandhi and Vishwas are political novices, the party is confident of their candidature and the latter has already started his campaign in Rahul Gandhi's constituency Amethi.

"It will be a short list of about 15 to 20 names only, but these are people who will make strong candidates," senior AAP leader Prashant Bhushan told ET, refusing to divulge the names of prospective contestants. On being asked if any of the members of party's political advisory committee would figure on the list, Bhushan did not rule out the possibility.

The party has received an overwhelming response to its call for applications for Lok Sabha seats.

The deadline expired on Wednesday. According to Pankaj Gupta, party leader in charge of screening applications, AAP received close to 1,100 entries until Wednesday, of which 300 had fulfilled the condition of getting their candidature endorsed by at least 100 people from one constituency.

AAP will kickstart its national campaign with the declaration of its first list and the party is gearing up to take on the BJP directly, said party leader Sanjay Singh.

National convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has already indicated that the national elections will be a direct contest between AAP and BJP as Congress has fallen off the grid, according to it.

"The candidates whose names will be announced in the first round will begin their campaign immediately... The BJP is trying to project itself as an alternative to the Congress and we have all the intention to expose that," said Bhushan, adding the party will launch a no-holds-barred attack on Narendra Modi.

Although the names of former Infosys CFO V Balakrishnan, late PM Lal Bhahadur Shashtri's grandson Adarsh Shashtri, and AAP national executive member Anand Kumar are also among the list of probable candidates, sources said they could figure in the subsequent lists and not the first.

Source: Economic Times

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