AAP releases first list of 80 candidates for Karnataka Assembly elections
Bengaluru, Mar 20: The Aam Aadmi Party on Monday released the first list comprising 80 candidates who will contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka.
The party has said it will field candidates in all the 224 Assembly segments in the State, where Assembly elections are due by May.
The first list includes Supreme Court lawyer Brijesh Kalappa, who will contest from Chickpet, former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officer K Mathai (Shanti Nagar), B T Naganna (Rajajinagar), Mohan Dasari (C V Raman Nagar), Shanthala Damle (Mahalakshmi Layout) and Ajay Gowda from Padmanabhanagar.
Addressing a press conference, party state chief Prithvi Reddy said, ''These candidates (in the list) represent various sections of the society. The average age of the list of our candidates is only 46 years. More than 50 per cent of our candidates are below the age of 45,'' Reddy said.
According to him, the candidates have been chosen after a survey.
Reddy said 69 candidates are fresh faces, adding that the list comprises youth, women, farmers and people from various backgrounds.
''Our list has highly educated people. We have 13 advocates, three doctors and four IT professionals in the first list,'' the AAP leader said.
On the party fielding Sharatchandra from Channapatna, who is a relative of Congress state president D K Shivakumar, Reddy said it does not matter who is relatives are, and added that the fact that they have chosen AAP over Congress is ''sufficient''.
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Massive explosion, fire strikes Iranian port, injures at least 516 people
Tehran, Apr 26 (AP): A massive explosion and fire rocked a port on Saturday in southern Iran, injuring at least 516 people, state television reported.
The blast happened at the Shahid Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic that handles some 80 million tons (72.5 million metric tons) of goods a year.
Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings kilometers away from the epicentre of the explosion.
Authorities offered no cause for the explosion hours later, though videos suggested whatever ignited at the port was highly combustible.
Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast.
Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area while others were attempting to evacuate the site.
Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at Rajaei port in the city, without elaborating. State TV also reported there had been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate other details offered.
Rajaei port is some 1,050 kilometers southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20 per cent of all oil traded passes.
The blast happened as Iran and the United States met Saturday in Oman for the third round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
BREAKING | A massive explosion has been reported at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, one of two sections within the Port of Bandar Abbas, located on the north shore of the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran.
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) April 26, 2025
According to Mehr News Agency, a fuel tank in the port exploded due to unknown… pic.twitter.com/vN8r4yHyCT
