The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has included young faces in its second list of nine contestants for the Lok Sabha polls, apparently to quell criticism that the average age of candidates it had nominated in its first list was very high.
The list was a mix of persons from different professional backgrounds, with eight of the nine candidates below the age of 45.
For Dindigul, the party has fielded Elanchezian Sathiaseelan, an IT professional who said he had given up a lucrative career in Singapore to work for the people. In Namakkal, Chella Kumarasamy, a doctor, involved in creating health awareness among school children, will enter the fray.
The party has nominated S. Rajesh, a member of India Against Corruption, who has worked with Medha Patkar, for Arakkonam. Mohamed Yasin, who runs a free ambulance service and an NGO in the field of education and health, will contest from Kallakurichi.
In Madurai, the party has named Muthukumaran Kamacis, a charted accountant, as the candidate. Tiruvallur will see B. Balamurugan, who heads the ‘Helping The Helpless’ foundation entering the fray while Imdad Shariff, who has returned from London after giving up a telecommunication job to work for the AAP, will enter the poll battle in Vellore.
The list also has an engineer-turned-farmer in J. Ramaprakash, whom the party has nominated for Theni. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Ramaprakash said his campaign would be on the plank of creating a holistic system of agriculture.
Above 60The only person above 60 years on the list is P. Ravi for Tiruchi, a social activist who had earlier contested as an independent.
The party has so far nominated candidates for 18 constituencies.
Filing of nominations for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu begins on Saturday.
