AAP to contest upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls

The Aam Aadmi Party will contest the Maharashtra Assembly polls likely to be held in September-October as the state was reeling under failure and systematic collapse, its national joint secretary Ruben Mascarenhas said on Friday.

He claimed the party was foraying into the poll battle to save the "distressed" people of the state.

"The Devendra Fadnavis government has been a colossal failure in Maharashtra. Once a progressive state, it is now plagued by drought, floods, farmer suicides, agrarian distress, unemployment, failing law and order and crime," he said.

He said the opposition parties in the state were in disarray.

The party's campaign committee for the Maharashtra polls will have Ranga Rachure as convener, Kishore Mandhyan as co-convener and Dhananjay Shinde as secretary, he said.

Senior party leader Preeti Sharma Menon will be a member of the committee which will oversee poll preparations, Mascarenhas added.

"We are aware we don't have a strong presence all over Maharashtra. Therefore, we are working to finalise the seats which we will contest. We have invited applications from probable candidates. We intend to contest more than 50 seats across the state," Sharma Menon told PTI.

She said the party was open to alliances.

The party had skipped the April-May Lok Sabha polls in the state.