AAP to contest in three seats, eyes Gurugram, Faridabad, Karnal

GURUGRAM: Sources within Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday said the party would contest the

Lok Sabha

elections from three seats.

AAP

’s Haryana chief Naveen Jaihind said Gurugram and Faridabad were almost certain and Karnal was the third likeliest option. The final word on the

seats

would be out in the next two-three days.

This came after AAP and Jannayak Janta Party (

JJP

) reached a 3:7 seat sharing arrangement in the state. Earlier, Delhi law minister Gopal Rai had hinted that the party was interested in the above-mentioned seats. AAP leaders said that the names of

candidates

would be released within the next week. TOI had earlier reported that ten candidates were willing to fight from the Gurugram seat. The number has now gone up to 13.

“Some people had told us that they would be interested in fighting from the Gurugram seat on an AAP ticket if our alliance with JJP was sealed,” said a party member. He added that at least three of them had fought elections from the Gurugram seat in the past as members of other political parties. According to sources, the seats chosen by AAP will benefit the alliance as the party has more influence among urban voters as compared to JJP, which is stronger in the rural areas. Also, Gurugram and Faridabad are very close to Delhi where AAP is in power. It would be easier for the party to tap voters in these places.

AAP Gurugram chief Sudhir Yadav said, “We wanted to contest from four seats but JJP initially offered us only two.” He added that when party chief Arvind Kejriwal reached out to Congress regarding an alliance, the talks with JJP died down as it did not wish to join hands with Congress. However, after Congress was out of the picture, JJP came back to the table.