Thiruvananthapuram, May 8 (IANS): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has announced that it will not contest the Thirikkakara by-election to be held on May 31.

State convenor of the party P.C. Cyriac, who is a retired Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, in a press conference at Kochi on Sunday said that the party would not contest the bypoll as winning a single seat would not make any change.

He said that the party will contest all the 140 seats in the next Assembly elections and will capture power in the state by implementing public-friendly projects. The state Convenor of the party said that the decision was taken by the national committee of the party in New Delhi. The party-state convenor said that the AAP has a policy that it would not contest by-elections in states where the party does not have power.

P.C. Cyriac said that the AAP will be contesting all the constituencies in the next Lok Sabha elections as well.

The Thrikkakara by-election was necessitated following the death of the sitting MLA, P. T. Thomas and his wife, Uma Thomas is contesting on a Congress ticket. Dr. Joe Joseph, a cardiologist with a leading private hospital in Kochi, will be contesting on a CPI-M ticket. And A.N. Radhakrishnan, BJP's state senior vice president, will be contesting as the party candidate.

The AAP leaders said that they have conducted detailed surveys in the constituency and found that the people are interested in change but the party is not contesting the elections as the focus is on the next general elections in 2024.