The Arvind Kejriwal -led party had not contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in March and instead, diverted all its resources and focus to Punjab. (PTI)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest the civic body polls in Uttar Pradesh, expected to be held next month, as it is gearing up to make its presence felt in the politically crucial state, a senior party leader said. The AAP would contest the civic polls in Ghaziabad, Meerut, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Aligarh, Sanjay Singh, who was the party’s in- charge of Punjab and who is now working to strengthen its organisational base in Uttar Pradesh, told PTI. It is expected that the dates of the civic polls in these cities will be announced by the month-end and polling will take place next month. “We will contest from wherever we feel we have a strong organisational base,” Singh said. The Arvind Kejriwal-led party had not contested the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in March and instead, diverted all its resources and focus to Punjab.

The party had also received a setback in the state when its leaders, Kumar Vishwas and Kejriwal, lost to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Amethi and Varanasi respectively in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. After its poor show in the Punjab polls, the AAP has again shifted focus to Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.