LS polls: AAP tickets for novelist, ex-policeman

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Kerala has roped in novelist Sara Joseph and former IPS officer Ajith Joy to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Joseph will contest the Thrissur seat while Joy has been named for the capital city constituency that is currently held by junior HRD Minister Shashi Tharoor.

Speaking to IANS, AAP's state convenor Manoj Padmanabhan, an IT professional based in Kochi said the state unit had submitted a list of candidates to the national leadership and these two names were cleared.

"At the moment, I cannot say if we will contest all the 20 seats in the state," said Padmanabhan.

Joseph, 67, is an award-winning novelist and a retired professor of Malayalam. She has been taking up women's issues.

She won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award of 2003 for her novel "Aalahayude Penmakkal" (Daughters of God the Father) and also received the prestigious Vayalar Ramavarma Award of 2004 for the same novel.

Joy, 44, who hails from the state capital is a 1992 batch IPS officer who quit the service last year and is a practising lawyer in the Supreme Court.

Padmanabhan added the response to the AAP party is good and he expects the total membership will soon reach six lakh in Kerala.