The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is closely perusing the credentials of ticket aspirants for the remaining Parliamentary constituencies, including the Mysore Lok Sabha seat. Three “ideal” candidates have already been shortlisted.
In the next few days, candidates for the remaining 15 seats are expected to be announced. The party had announced candidates for 13 Lok Sabha seats in the State, including Bangalore Central, where former Infosys chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan is contesting, and Gulbarga, where they have fielded former Minister B.T. Lalitha Naik.
AAP leaders were tight-lipped and did not disclose the names of the three shortlisted candidates for the Mysore seat, which is one of the party’s focus segments.
“We do not want to reveal names at this stage. Candidates will be finalised shortly, as the selection process is in progress,” said AAP leader Shivakumar, also a member of the party’s State screening committee.
He told The Hindu that the party was looking for clean candidates for every constituency. When pressed to reveal the names of the prime contenders, he said: “the names will be known by Tuesday evening.”
Mr. Shivakumar clarified that the party was against giving tickets to leaders who had been denied tickets in other parties. “Winnability is not the lone criterion; we are looking for candidates who are different from the rest and will stand out in the election,” he said. Local volunteers and activists were also being consulted on the credentials of the shortlisted candidates, he added.
“We want to be 100 per cent sure that a clean candidate is being fielded. Therefore, we are carefully selecting candidates taking all necessary precautions,” Mr. Shivakumar said.
The party is also not encouraging candidates who wish to spend money from their pockets for the election. “The election expenses are sourced from the donations the party received,” he said.
