AAP will contest all 403 seats in 2022 UP elections
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on all 403 seats, party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh announced on Tuesday. The announcement effectively puts to rest the speculation about AAP mulling alliances for the 2022 UP polls. UP is set to hold elections early next year. Here are more details.
Candidate list to be declared in 2 weeks
Singh said a list of 120 candidates has been prepared and all the names will be declared in the coming 15 days. Also the UP in-charge for the AAP, he said the party will expose the "fake nationalism" of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The party will also take out "Tiranga Yatras" in all the Assembly constituencies of the state.
'Our nationalism is good health and education'
"We want to tell (people) what real nationalism is," Singh said at a meeting with AAP leaders and workers. He said the party, if elected, will work to provide good health and education facilities to the people of UP. "Our nationalism is that every poor child should have access to a better school to study...There should be electricity in the homes of the poor."
'BJP made crematoriums in every village of UP'
"We don't have a cremation-making ideology. The BJP made crematoriums in every village during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, they had said that they would do so," Singh reportedly said, in criticism of the UP government's handling of the coronavirus.
Party made an impressive debut in panchayat polls
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had announced in December last year that the party would take part in the UP elections. Earlier this year, the AAP had made an impressive debut in the UP panchayat polls. It had won 83 zila panchayat seats, some 300 village head seats, and 232 block development committee seats. Around 40 lakh votes had been given to the party's candidates.
Elections in UP due in early 2022
Elections in Uttar Pradesh will likely be held in February-March, 2022. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government has been facing criticism for its handling of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, an issue repeatedly raised by Opposition parties to improve their prospects. Meanwhile, both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are looking to make a comeback in the state.
AAP striving to become a national party
AAP, which is currently in power in national capital Delhi, is striving to attain the national party status. It has, in the past, contested Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan, among other states. In the next round of elections due next year, it is also fielding candidates in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Gujarat, besides UP.
