Gujarat Elections 2017: Congress releases first list of 77, packed with Patidars, OBCs
After much delay, the Congress announced its first list of 77 candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections late on Sunday night. The list comprises 13 sitting MLAs, and is packed with Patel candidates, clearly indicating that the party is banking heavily on the community. OBCs have also got a significant share of tickets.
As soon as the list came out, violence erupted in parts of Surat late on Sunday.
The party has repeated sitting MLA Shaktisinh Gohil from Mandvi seat, while Indranil Rajguru will take on Chief Minister Vijay Rupani from Rajkot West constituency. Mohammed Javed Pirzada (Wankaner), Jawahar Chavda (Manavadar), Harshad Ribadiya (Visavadar), Punja Vansh (Una), Paresh Dhanani (Amreli), Pravin Rathod (Palitana), Anand Chaudhari (Mandvi ST), Punabhai Gamit (Vyara ST), Mangal Gavit (Dangs ST), Ishwar Patel (Dharampur ST) and Jitu Chaudhary (Kaprada ST) are other MLAs who have been repeated.
Senior Gujarat Congress leaders such as Arjun Modhwadia (Porbandar), Tushar Chaudhary (Mahuva ST) and Kunvarji Bavaliya (Jasdan) also figure in the list of 77.
The candidates declared will contest in the first phase of elections on December 9. This means 12 candidates for the first phase are yet to be declared.
Party sources said that the remaining candidates will be declared on Monday. The …read more
