Nov 10, 2022: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its initial list of 160 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections on Thursday the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel from his Ghatlodia constituency while eliminating a number of incumbent MLAs. Harsh Sanghavi, the State Home Minister, will run in the Majura constituency.
The other well-known figure on the list includes former Congress politician Hardik Patel, who quit the party and joined the BJP, will contest from the Viramgram constituency. Rivaba Jadeja, the cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife, received a ticket and will contest from the Jamnagar North constituency. Also fielded was former MLA Kantilal Amrutiya, who recently made headlines for attempting to save lives during the Morbi bridge collapse tragedy.
The two-phase elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held on December 1 and December 5. The party named its candidates for 76 of the 93 seats up for election in the second round on December 5, as well as 84 of the 89 seats up for election in the first round on December 1
The list includes 69 sitting MLAs besides 14 women, 13 Schedules Caste candidates, and 24 Schedules Tribe candidates, respectively.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) selected the candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, and the party’s national president JP Nadda were present in the meeting to finalise the candidates.
The candidates selected by the party’s Central Election Committee at its meeting on Wednesday were announced by the State BJP Chief CR Paatil, Union Ministers Mansukh Mandviya, and Bhupender Yadav.
Several senior leaders withdrew from the contest shortly after the meeting, writing to the party leadership to that effect, including former chief minister Vijay Rupani and former deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.
The BJP is running for re-election in Gujarat, which has long been a stronghold for the party.
