Can the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) replicate its electoral success in Delhi in other parts of the country? It is a question that has constantly dogged the fledgling party. To scout for answers, there is perhaps no better place than Kerala to start.The state is as far as it gets in India from Delhi. In terms of electoral fortunes, Kerala presents both an opportunity and challenge for AAP. Voters have long alternated with a coalition led by the Congress and CPM at the hustings. But that could also be due to the lack of another credible political platform.Yet, due to the stranglehold the Congress and CPM have on the state’s electoral map, not to forget an array of splinter parties, AAP’s success in Kerala would be nothing short of a miracle, possibly even more astounding than in Delhi.Members of AAP themselves are aware of the daunting task at hand. “We cannot copy-paste the Delhi style of campaigning in Kerala as the conditions are different,” says Anil Aickara, state secretary, AAP. “For example, AAP’s door-to-door campaigning was a new experience for people in Delhi. But in Kerala, all parties have been doing it for decades,” he says.That’s not to say that the party unit will turn the entire campaign strategy of AAP on its head in the coming Lok Sabha election. Taking a leaf out of the Delhi experience, the Kerala unit has tried to place the common man at the centre of its campaign. Potential candidates have to get the support from 700 people (100 people from each assembly segment) to make the cut. Candidates will be finally selected by a screening committee based on an interview. Even the door-to-door campaign in Kerala will be different. AAP has also decided not to use the polluting flex boards for campaigning. Even the mike sets used are small battery operated.Last Sunday, the party had announced a third list of candidates, including two for Kerala, for the Lok Sabha polls. AAP chose an actor, doctor and teacher, among others as candidates. In Kerala, it settled on a former policeman and a writer to represent the party.Sara Joseph, a well-known writer, activist, will contest on an AAP ticket in Thrissur. She says the response to her candidature is phenomenal. “I am fully convinced that people are responding to my plea for votes because I am an AAP candidate, not because I am a writer or an activist.”Travelling the length and breadth of her constituency, Sarah Teacher (as she is popularly known) says she is appalled by the extent of poverty in the plantation belts in Thrissur. She sees her candidature as a chance to work for the people. “Real political work is to work for the common man by being one with him. Spirituality of political work is to make him or her happy through our work”, she says.Former IPS officer Ajit Joy, who is contesting from Thiruvananthapuram, says AAP has already made an impact on the people thanks to its campaigning. “We go to the people to make our election manifesto,” he says, adding that he met thousands of people and listened to their grievances to get inputs for the manifesto.In his constituency, BJP is fielding veteran O Rajagopal while the Congress is expected to name Union minister Shashi Tharoor again. Asked about his chances, Joy says people would listen to a new voice that can deliver change.Despite the odds, AAP takes heart from the boost in the membership in the state. From 10,000 members at the time of Delhi elections, the membership in Kerala has shot up to 1,50,000. If social media was a measure of popularity, the “Likes” on Facebook is almost double that number. No wonder that the Kerala unit of AAP will make use of the social networking sites for campaigning.“Our studies show that five districts — Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, Thrissur and Palakkad — are much ahead of others in terms of the use of social networking sites. We have decided to make use of the social networking sites in these places,” says Aickara. In other places, the party campaign will comprise holding small meetings and house visits.As in Delhi, luminaries from the cultural and academic field such as University of Calicut professor MN Karassery and Mary Roy, mother of writer Arundhati Roy, have joined AAP. Aikara says senior leaders of the party such as Arvind Kejriwal and Yogendra Yadav are expected to visit the state in the first week of April.The party spokespersons believe that in a state like Kerala, marked by sharply polarized politics, the aam aadmi would definitely like to have a third option to rely on. We will soon know if that option is their party.