The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday announced it will contest the forthcoming municipal corporation elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a press conference in the state capital, national spokesman of the party and incharge for Uttar Pradesh Sanjay Singh said the AAP was committed to weeding out graft from the civic bodies and giving people good governance.

Stating that the people had already become fed up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Yogi Adityanath, the AAP leader said civic bodies over the years had turned into centres of graft in the state.

The party had serious intent to set things right, apart from putting an end to the exploitation of “safai karmacharis”, he said.

Elections to the 16 civic bodies in the state are likely to be held later this year.

The AAP, he further informed, would waive house tax if it came to power and would ensure that people got clean drinking water. These and other issues would be part of the party’s election manifesto.

The schools coming under the municipal corporations would be brought at par with private schools by enhancing their standards and the successful scheme of “Mohalla Clinics” in the national capital would be replicated in the state as well.

A committee had also been formed under party’s state spokesman Vaibhav Maheshwari to draft the manifesto, and training workshops for the 22 spokespersons of the state unit would also be undertaken some time soon, Singh said.

The AAP spokesman also targeted the BJP over the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh and said the message from the government was that any dissenting voice against it would be silenced.

Slamming the union government for soaring fuel prices and the burden of taxes on traders, Singh said there was no other country across the world where traders were paying so much taxes.

Accusing the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “systematically looting the people” to cover up for their own economic disasters, the AAP leader said people had realised that work and development should be the guiding spirit of voting and not caste, creed or religion.