The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday announced its first list of 63 candidates for the Assembly election in Rajasthan, while inviting suggestions from the public on its draft manifesto, which would also be released shortly. The party would contest from all the 200 seats in the State.
AAP State coordinator Devendra Shastri said here that three of the declared candidates would shortly be changed for various reasons. The lists comprising the rest of the candidates would be released after the meetings of the party’s campaign committee to be held during the next few days.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would address a public rally at Ramlila Maidan here on October 28 amid indications that several disgruntled leaders of the both the BJP and Congress might join the AAP at the event. Mr. Shastri said the rally would be a significant occasion for spelling out the party’s vision and policies for Rajasthan.
Mr. Shastri said the Jaipur Municipal Corporation had “deliberately delayed” the allotment of venue for the rally on the pretext of seeking permission from the Election Commission. “The municipal officers, under pressure from the BJP government, harassed the AAP functionaries for more than a week. There is no provision for getting the EC’s permission for allotment of a place for a public meeting,” he said.
The AAP State unit was in a confident mood after the BJP leader and Kisan Mahapanchayat founder, Rampal Jat, joined the party earlier this week. Mr. Jat, a former BJP general secretary, said the ruling party had failed to keep its promises made to the farmers and had “completely ignored” the rural populace facing difficulties in all spheres of life.
The 63 candidates declared by AAP so far include farmers’ ideologue Giriraj Singh Khangarot (Malpura), National Council member Sunil Agiwal (Bhilwara), chartered accountant M.P. Choyal (Ladpura), medico Bharat Gupta (Malviya Nagar, Jaipur) and activist Ashok Jain (Anta). Mr. Shastri, a former journalist, will contest the polls from Civil Lines constituency in Jaipur.
