Tribal rights activist Soni Sori was on Saturday given ticket by the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) from Bastar for the upcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The party announced its sixth list of candidates which has 55 candidates including its popular leader Shazia Ilmi from Ghaziabad and Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya, who was India's first woman director general of police, from Haridwar seat.
With this sixth list, AAP has so far announced a total of 242 candidates for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Of the 55 candidates, 10 from Uttar Pradesh and Odisha each, seven from Madhya Pradesh, six from Maharashtra, five from Rajasthan, three from Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh each, two from Kerala and Goa each, one from Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Assam, and Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Among the most prominent names in the list is that of tribal rights activist who was a victim of brutal torture by the Chhattisgarh Police. She is accused of her alleged links with Maoists.
The other big name in the list is that of AAP's popular leader Shazia Ilmi from Ghaziabad constituency. Congress has already announced Raj Babbar as its candidate from the seat. The sitting MP Rajnath Singh of BJP is, however, this time looking to fight from Lucknow seat, which was once represented by BJP leader and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
AAP's headquarters is also in Ghaziabad which is primarily an urban seat and AAP wields good influence in the area which is primarily urban in nature.
The move of fielding Ilmi from Ghaziabad seems a step to pacify the popular leader who was apparently miffed with party for being denied a ticket from Delhi. She was being persuaded to challenge Congress president Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli constituency in UP but she had categorically denied any such move.
With this list, AAP has now announced candidates for 242 seats and more lists are expected in days ahead as party is planning to contest around 400 seats to present itself as a national alternative.
A closer look at its lists of candidates so far reveals that party has given tickets to candidates from all states including far flung areas like North-Eastern states or for that matter Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It has also given tickets for majority of seats in big and important states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and others.
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