AAP to fight all LS seats in 4 states

NEWDELHI:THE Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday said it will contest all seats in four states of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Goa and the lone seat in the union territory of Chandigarh in the Lok Sabha elections next year. The party did not mention other states where it will field candidates.

Gopal Rai, AAP’S Delhi unit convener, said, “There are 33 seats in total in the four states and UT of Chandigarh. AAP’S candidates for these parliamentary constituencies will be announced by February 15.” The party said it will appoint lakhs of booth-level incharges, to be called Vijay Pramukhs, who will remain in touch with at least 10 households in their area until the voting day. It said 3.62 lakh ‘Vijay Pramukh’ will be appointed in Delhi alone.

The party plans to appoint 4.62 lakh such workers in Haryana as well. “Each Vijay Pramukh will cover 10 households in the area under a polling booth and will be responsible for providing voting slips to voters and bringing them to polling stations on the day of voting. They will also participate in campaigning a week before the voting day and distribute a questionnaire to voters, seeking their views on the AAP government in Delhi and Arvind Kejriwal’s performance,” Rai said.

AAP convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who will be spearheading the party’s campaign, will start addressing rallies across the four states and Chandigarh this week. Kejriwal will be speaking at his first poll rally in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri on Friday, the party said.

In the coming weeks, Kejriwal, along with other party leaders, will also hold training sessions for AAP volunteers from the four states and Chandigarh. On Thursday, Kejriwal will hold a meeting with block-level party workers from Punjab.

For the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, Kejriwal will hold meetings with campaigners of the party’s door-to-door programme.

Until February, the AAP chief will address three rallies in Punjab and one in Haryana. The rallies will be held at Sangrur (January 20), Anandpur Sahib (January 28) and Amritsar (Feb 2).