Lawyer-turned-politician Amit Palekar has been named as the chief ministerial candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the 2022 Goa Assembly elections.
Palekar had joined AAP in October last year after the party was launched in Goa during the 2017 elections.
Many were surprised by Palekar’s selection of party leaders by the AAP, who have been associated with it since 2017.
Palekar is contesting for the AAP in the St Cruz assembly constituency, which is currently held by the ruling BJP.
AAP president and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who announced his candidature for chief minister, said Goa demands change, which is why the party has offered tickets to new faces across the state.
AAP had earlier announced that its CM election would be a face of the Bhandari community. Palekar, 46, hails from the Bhandari community.
The Bhandari community of Goa constitutes 35 per cent of the population.
According to reports, his mother was the sarpanch for ten years.
Palekar recently made headlines when he went on an indefinite hunger strike to protest the illegal construction of a building inside the Old Goa Heritage Ground.
Later the BJP administration had to intervene in the disputed structure.
AAP has announced that it will contest all 40 seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly on its own.
Assembly elections in Goa will be held on February 17 and the results will be declared on March 10.