Even as major political parties are bracing up for the BBMP elections scheduled for August 22, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to remain out of the polls this time.
In an official statement issued by the party here on Wednesday, Siddharth Sharma, state convener, said that the AAP has found the BBMP elections to be a farce and that they would wish to remain out of it. The State government has been talking about restructuring the BBMP for many months now. However, this turned out to be a ploy to delay elections, the release said.
Further, “The government has gone as far as saying that the elections are not related to restructuring and another election is imminent soon after the Governor’s approval which can happen anytime. In this background, AAP decries this meaningless and farcical election which is a wasteful expenditure of public money,” it said.
Holding both BJP and Congress responsible for corruption in BBMP over the last five years, AAP has called upon the people to set the agenda for elections based on issues of concern, by asking those contesting the elections to give a clarity on how they would resolve these issues. “Aam Aadmi Party, Karnataka, will continue to take up and fight for peoples’ issues irrespective of elections,” Sharma said. With the AAP deciding to stay away from the polls, it would be a triangular contest in most of the wards and not a multi-cornered one as was anticipated. Now, the BJP, the Congress and the JD(S) will fight out in the 198 wards.
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