Karnataka polls: AAP releases first list of 80 candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday released the first list comprising 80 candidates who will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.
It will field candidates in all the 224 Assembly segments in the State, where Assembly elections are due by May, the party said.
The first list includes Supreme Court lawyer Brijesh Kalappa, who will contest from Chickpet, former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officer K Mathai (Shanti Nagar), B T Naganna (Rajajinagar), Mohan Dasari (C V Raman Nagar), Shanthala Damle (Mahalakshmi Layout) and Ajay Gowda from Padmanabhanagar.
Addressing a press conference, party state chief Prithvi Reddy said, ‘’These candidates (in the list) represent various sections of the society. The average age of the list of our candidates is only 46 years. More than 50 per cent of our candidates are below the age of 45,’’ Reddy said.
According to him, the candidates have been chosen after a survey.
Reddy said 69 candidates are fresh faces, adding that the list comprises youth, women, farmers and people from various backgrounds.
‘’Our list has highly educated people. We have 13 advocates, three doctors and four IT professionals in the first list,’’ the AAP leader said. On the party fielding Sharatchandra from Channapatna, who is a relative of Congress state president D K Shivakumar, Reddy said it does not matter who is relatives are, and added that the fact that they have chosen AAP over Congress is ‘’sufficient’’.