Page 3 - Gujarat Assembly

Gujarat Assembly polls: 7 MLAs who won for 5 times or more again in fray

At least seven legislators who have won the Gujarat Assembly elections for five or more times are seeking a term again in the state polls scheduled next month. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reposed faith in five of the leaders by fielding them for yet another term, while one has sought to contest as an independent. These five candidates fielded by the BJP are Yogesh Patel (Manjalpur seat), Pabubha Manek (Dwarka), Keshu Nakrani (Gariadhar), Purshottam Solanki (Bhavnagar rural) and Pankaj Desai (Nadiad). Apart from them, Bharatiya Tribal Party's (BTP) founder Chhotu Vasava and Madhu Shrivastav, who has been denied ticket by the BJP, are contesting as independent candidates. These leaders have been able to establish a rapport with party workers and supporters over decades. The caste equations also favour them, but more than that, it is their personal leadership qualities that stand them in good stead, political analysts say. Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly

Gujarat polls: 788 candidates in fray for 89 seats in first phase on Dec 1

A total of 788 candidates, including 70 women, remain in the fray for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly polls for 89 seats on December 1 after the culmination of process of scrutiny of nomination papers and withdrawal of candidature, officials said on Friday. These include candidates from 39 parties and 339 independents, a release from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Gujarat informed. While the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress have fielded their candidates on all the 89 seats, the Aam Aadmi Party will fight on 88 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party on 57 and All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on six Assembly segments. In all 1,362 candidates had filed their papers for the 89 seats, which went down to 999 after scrutiny on November 15, and dipped further to 788 on November 17, which was the last date to withdraw nominations. The Election Commission has so far received 1,515 nomination papers for the 93 seats that

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Nadda, union ministers, CMs to address 89 BJP rallies in Gujarat on Friday

Senior BJP leaders, including its national president J P Nadda besides Union ministers and chief ministers, are expected to address public meetings on Friday in the 89 Gujarat assembly constituencies going to the polls in the first phase of elections on December 1. With the BJP intensifying its campaign, party sources said Nadda will hold rallies in three places -- Navsari, Ankleshwar and Rajkot East -- while Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Singh Tomar and Anurag Singh Thakur will speak at three, four and four meetings, respectively. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan will address three and four rallies, respectively. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union ministers V K Singh and Faggan Singh Kulaste are among other party leaders who will be addressing rallies, they said. Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat are the regions going to the polls in the first phase while 93 seats in north a

Gujarat Assembly polls: PM Modi to hold road show in Vapi on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders are expected to hold several road shows and public rallies in Gujarat as the party looks to rev up its election campaign to retain power in the state. Modi is likely to hold a road show in Vapi in Gujarat on November 19 and other senior leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will also spearhead the mass contact programme in different parts of the state, party leaders said. After arriving in his home state on November 19, the prime minister is expected to hold public meetings across the state in the next two days. Shah, who has been frequently camping in the state to give final touches to the party's poll strategy and campaign, may hold over 30 public meetings for the elections scheduled for December 1 and 5, party sources said. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari will also campaign intensively, they said. The BJP has won assembly polls in the state for six consecutive times since 1995 and is pulling o

Gujarat assembly polls: AAP's Surat East candidate withdraws nomination

The Aam Aadmi Party's Surat East Assembly seat candidate in Gujarat withdrew his nomination on Wednesday, with the AAP alleging that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pressured him to do so. The BJP, however, denied the charge and asked the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP to "take care of its own house". Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 and the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. State AAP president Gopal Italia claimed their Surat East candidate Kanchan Jariwala appeared before the office of the Returning Officer on Wednesday under heavy police protection and surrounded by "BJP goons" to withdraw his candidature under the pressure of the ruling party. When mediapersons questioned Jariwala, he was hurriedly whisked away by the persons surrounding him. Italia alleged that Jariwala had gone missing and was allegedly taken to an undisclosed location by the BJP goons who put pressure on him to stay away from the ...

If BJP wins majority, Bhupendra Patel will be CM of Gujarat again: Shah

Bhupendra Patel will remain the chief minister of Gujarat if BJP secures a majority in the next month's Assembly elections, senior party leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday. Shah's statement makes it clear that Patel is the chief ministerial candidate of the BJP, which is eyeing the seventh consecutive term in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. "If BJP gets a majority in Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel will be the next chief minister," Shah told CNN-News18 here. Patel replaced Vijay Rupani as the chief minister in September 2021, a move that surprised many. He is the first-time MLA from the Ghatlodia constituency. He is renominated from the same seat. Earlier, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party had declared party leader Isudan Gadhvi as the chief ministerial candidate after conducting a "public survey". Congress has decided not to declare the CM face for the elections. Voting for the total of 182 seats in Gujarat will be held in two phases on

Guj polls: Congress promises jobs, electricity, LPG, unemployment allowance

Ten lakh jobs in government and semi-government departments, free medical treatment of up to Rs 10 lakh, LPG cylinder at Rs 500 and 300 units of free electricity every month are some of the key promises that the Congress made in its manifesto for the Gujarat elections. In the manifesto released on Saturday, the grand old party, which has been out of power in the state for more than two decades, also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things. Rajasthan Chief Minister and Congress's senior observer for Gujarat polls Ashok Gehlot released the manifesto at the state party headquarters here in the presence of other party leaders. Elections to the 182-member Assembly in Gujarat, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is currently in power, will be held in two phases - on December 1 and 5 - and the counting of votes will be taken up

Guj polls: BJP candidates list out, Jadeja's wife to contest from Jamnagar

Former Congress leader Hardik Patel, who quit the party and joined the BJP, will contest the elections from the Viramgam constituency

BJP CEC discusses on 182 Gujarat seats, 1st candidates' list likely today

According to sources, in the marathon meetings held on Wednesday, it has been decided not to give party tickets to several other veteran leaders and induct young party leaders.

Gujarat assembly polls: BJP likely to finalise all candidates today

The BJP's top leadership will on Wednesday deliberate upon the candidates for Gujarat assembly polls, where the party is eyeing a win for the seventh time. The BJP's central election committee, also comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will meet here in the evening to finalise the candidates. Elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5. The BJP is likely to finalise all 183 candidates during the meeting and may announce the list in the next few days, sources said. Aiming to set a new record in terms of share in seats, the party is looking to inject new energy into the organisation. Hence, the possibility of dropping out several senior leaders cannot be ruled out, they said. The sources also said the party has received suggestions that it should opt for new and young faces. In the fiercely fought 2017 elections, the BJP had won 99 seats and its main rival Congress 77. Currently, the BJP's stre

Mohan Singh Rathwa quits Cong, joins BJP ahead of Gujarat election

Days ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat, veteran Congress Party leader and 11 times MLA Mohan Singh Rathwa, a prominent tribal leader joined BJP after quitting from the Congress.

Gujarat polls: Bharatiya Tribal Party announces candidates for 12 seats

The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) on Sunday announced its first list of candidates for 12 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat, including nine Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats. BTP's Gujarat president Ramesh Vasava said the party will field its candidates on all the 27 ST-reserved seats across the state for the next month's elections. The party had won two seats in the 2017 polls in the state. Apart from nine ST-reserved seats for which it declared the candidates, the BTP also announced its nominees for Karjan, Jambusar and Olpad, the seats for general category candidates. The remaining nine seats are - Bhiloda, Jhalod, Dahod, Sankheda, Nandod, Vyara, Nizar, Dang and Dharampur. "Apart from 27 tribal-reserved seats, we will also field our candidates on seats having 30 to 40 per cent tribal voters, such as Ankleshwar and Olpad," Vasava said. At present, the BTP has two seats in Gujarat Assembly - Jhagadia in Bharuch and Dediapada in Narmada district. While BTP's founder Chhotu Va

Gujarat Assembly polls: Banks directed to report suspicious transactions

In view of the upcoming Assembly polls in Gujarat, the Election Commission (EC) has directed all banks in the state to keep a watch on suspicious transactions of more than Rs 10 lakh in the accounts, officials said on Sunday. The banks have been instructed to also report transactions of more than Rs 1 lakh in the accounts opened by poll candidates, they said. As per the EC's guidelines, poll candidates cannot spend more than Rs 40 lakh during campaigning and they have to open a separate account for that purpose. All the transactions above Rs 10,000 must be done through cheques, RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) or drafts, a senior state official said. To convey these instructions, nodal officers of the expenditure monitoring cells in all 33 districts of Gujarat convened meetings with senior bank officials in the last two days, said Sahdevsinh Solanki, accounts officer at the office of Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). "As per guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India and the E

Gujarat Assembly polls: PM to address rally in Valsad district on Sunday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting in Valsad district of poll-bound Gujarat on Sunday and attend a mass marriage programme in Bhavnagar, a BJP functionary said on Saturday. This will be the first visit of the prime minister to his home state after the elections were declared by the Election Commission. PM Modi will address a rally in Nana Pondha in Valsad district on Sunday afternoon. He will attend a mass marriage function in Bhavnagar in the evening, BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave said. Elections will be held in Gujarat in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. The poll contest will be triangular in view of the Aam Aadmi Party's entry into the fray. In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won 99 seats and the Congress 77 of the total 182 seats.

Gujarat Assembly polls: Congress announces first list of 43 candidates

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 43 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. According to the list released here, former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadiya has been fielded from Porbandar, Himanshu Patel from Gandhinagar South and Hiteshbhai Vora from Rajkot South. The list was declared after candidates' names were finalised during a meeting of the party's central election committee (CEC) chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined the meeting online, while the rest of the participants attended it physically at the AICC headquarters here. The Congress is seeking to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from government in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the saffron party has been in power for more than two decades. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5 -- and the votes

AAP releases seventh list of 13 candidates for Gujarat Assembly polls

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday released its seventh list of 13 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, taking the number of nominees whose names the party has declared so far to 86. The list was released by the party's state unit president Gopal Italia. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly are due by the end of this year. However, the poll schedule is yet to be announced. Ten out of these 13 seats are currently held by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while the opposition Congress holds three others. Two seats - Kadi and Kalavad - are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, while three - Sankheda, Mandvi and Mahuva are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, he said. The candidates include a retired government officer, doctor, lawyer and industrialist, Italia told reporters. The seats on which the names of candidates were announced on Friday are Kadi (SC), Gandhinagar (North), Wadhwan, Morbi, Jasdan,

Kharge chairs Congress Central Election Committee meeting for Gujarat polls

Mallikarjun Kharge, who on Wednesday took over as Congress president, chaired a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee (CEC) to finalise candidates for the Gujarat assembly polls

BJP plays the freebies game to match AAP's goodies for the Gujarati voters

The prelude to the polls also saw mega projects unveiled by the Centre and the handing out of a few sops to match the breathless pace at which AAP has promised an array of goodies to voters

Himachal goes to polls on November 12; announcement for Gujarat later

A new actor in Himachal Pradesh is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)