Ayush Nallapally, Candidate for Montgomery Township Committee 2022

Republican Candidate

Career/Education:

Rutgers University student, majoring in political science and public policy. He expects to graduate in 2025.

Ayush Nallapally began his political journey working for Senator Joseph Lagana, Assemblywoman Lisa Swain and Assemblyman

Chrisopher Tully of the 38th Legislative District, focusing on constituent services and public

policy implementation. He followed that position by serving in the 23rd Legislative District under Assemblyman Erik Peterson.

Nallapally was also an intern for the Jack Ciattarelli gubernatorial campaign from November 2020 to November 2021.

Family/Personal:

Ayush lives with his family in Montgomery Township. His father is Shashi Nallapally and his mother is Pramila Kadri. He also has a sister, Anvi, 14, who is a freshman at Montgomery High School.

Ayush moved from Highland Park to Montgomery when he was in second grade. He attended Montgomery public schools, graduating in 2021.

“I like to say I am a product of the great school system here. It’s a big investment to live here, but for my parents, it was worth it to have their child get a good education.”

While a student at Montgomery High School, Nallapally participated in an extracurricular youth

leadership program founded by NJ Assembly Member Sadaf Jaffer (D), when she was mayor of Montgomery.

“It was a great experience for me to learn about my community, learn about the different aspects of

governance, especially things like the planning and zoning boards, which I worked extensively with.”

In fact, Nallapally appeared in a Montgomery News article in 2021 titled “Meet Three Future Leaders

of America,” along with other two other members of the youth leadership program. The article

highlighted Nallapally’s involvement in local politics, and his being awarded a fellowship by The New Jersey Leadership Program (NJLP). The NJLP is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting South Asian American youth participation and education at the local level of government in the State of New Jersey. NJLP and its fellowship program focuses on developing leadership, building public policy knowledge, and filling the pipeline for South Asian Americans to work in government or pursue public office at the local, state, and federal levels.

Why running as a Republican?

“For me, it’s about core principles,” he says. “I’m fiscally conservative. When it comes to social issues, I understand there’s different opinions, and I respect that.

I don’t want Montgomery Township to be a place where we can’t voice different opinions. I believe in a respectful government. If we treat one another with respect, we can get things done effectively.”

"To me, I don’t care about what your political belief is. I want to help out, I want to learn from you, and try to make a difference in the community.”

“When it comes to local issues, there is more bipartisan work that is done. It’s not as partisan as in

D.C., which is its own mess. Jarrett and I both agree that we don’t want something like that to happen in

Montgomery.”

Top three issues:

1. High taxes and overspending.

2. Poor infrastructure:

People want good roads. Last year, the flooding caused by Hurricane Ida was devastating. We had people reach out to Montgomery Township Committee in advance of Hurricane Ida mentioning that our drainage systems were not up to date. We need help. A bridge by the Lower Middle School school collapsed. Imagine if your kids were traveling on a school bus then.

3. Over development.

What would you do about these issues?

Township Committee needs to be more proactive. We can’t just wait for an emergency to happen, such as what happened during Hurricane Ida, and then watch this immense loss of property and life. It’s unacceptable.

We must do our due diligence, and make sure we have systems in place that would handle the issues, whether its floods, development, or taxes.

Why are you running for office?

Change is inevitable, in my opinion. But we can preserve some integrity in our town by treating one another with respect. I want to make sure the people of Montgomery can have a government that they trust, regardless of their political party. ■