Karnataka elections 2023: AAP releases its first list of 80 candidates

The Aam Aadmi Party has released the first list of candidates for the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls.

The party has announced 80 candidates in the first list in which it has given tickets to seven women.

Kannada actor Tennis Krishna, who had joined the AAP a few months ago, has got the ticket to contest from the Turuvekere constituency. The party is fielding Brijesh Kalappa, former Supreme Court advocate and Congress spokesperson, from the Chickpet constituency.

The names of 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 (Padmanabhanagar) are part of the first list.

Veteran Kannada actor Mukyamantri Chandru has announced that he is not contesting the polls.

Check out the full list on Twitter

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".