BJP repeats most sitting MLAs in first Gujarat list

The Bharatiya Janata Party took the lead on Friday to release its first list of 70 candidates in the Gujarat Assembly elections, four days ahead of the close of nominations for 89 seats in the first phase.

Departing from the past practice of dropping onethird of its sitting MLAs to neutralise anti-incumbency factor, the BJP has dropped only five, repeating 60 sitting MLAs and also giving ticket to five defectors who were elected from the Congress in 2012.

Among the notable names in the BJP list are Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel. Rupani will again contest from Rajkot West in Saurashtra and Deputy CM Patel has been fielded from the Mehsana seat. Meanwhile, Gujarat state unit President of the BJP Jitu Vaghani has also been repeated as the BJP candidate from the Bhavnagar West seat.

Rajkot West has been a prestige seat for the BJP. In 2002, Narendra Modi contested the first-ever election of his life from Rajkot West and won, before being anointed CM. This time, the BJP candidate is Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Rupani is confident of a win but anger among Patidars, who make up a chunk of voters in the area, have given the Congress a fighting chance. Gujarat BJP President Jitubhai Vaghani, meanwhile, is facing protests from the local Rajput community in Bhavnagar after he initiated action against a Rajput Sarpanch following a dispute.