Gujarat Assembly elections phase 1: Who are the key candidates in the fray?

The fate of 788 candidates will be sealed on Thursday (1 December) as Gujarat goes to polls.

The polling for the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in 89 seats spanning 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state. Over two crore balloters are eligible to cast their votes in this phase.

The office of the Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that voting will take place from 8 am to 5 pm across 14,382 polling stations, reported PTI.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and 32 other political outfits have fielded candidates in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

Among the three main political parties, the BJP and Congress will be fighting on all 89 seats in the first phase, while AAP is contesting in 88 constituencies.

As Gujarat votes tomorrow, here’s a list of key candidates to watch out for.

Isudan Gadhvi

AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi is contesting from the Khambhalia seat against senior Congress leader and incumbent MLA Vikram Madam and BJP’s Mulu Bera.

Gadhvi hails from the village of Pipaliya in Khambhalia taluka of the Dwarka district. The constituency is dominated electorally by the Ahir community, listed in the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Since 1972 only candidates from this community have been elected from the seat, as per Indian Express.

AAP has placed its best bet on the popularity of the former journalist to make it a three-way contest and beat the BJP and Congress veterans.

Kantilal Amrutiya

BJP’s Kantilal Amrutiya was thrown into the limelight after his videos of wearing a life tube and jumping into the Machchhu river to rescue people during the deadly bridge collapse in Morbi emerged.

Dropping the current Morbi MLA, Brijesh Merja, the saffron party pitted 60-year-old Amrutiya against Congress’ Jayanti Jerajbhai Patel and AAP nominee Pankaj Ransariya following the incident.

Also known as Kanabhai, Amrutiya has bagged the Morbi constituency in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2012.

In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls, he lost the seat to the then Congress candidate Merja. Merja later defected from Congress and joined the BJP; he again won the by-election from Morbi and is currently a minister in the state government.

Paresh Dhanani

Congress’ Paresh Dhanani has been fielded from the Amreli Assembly constituency where he will face BJP’s Kaushikbhai Kantibhai Vekariya and AAP’s Ravi Dhanani.

Called a ‘giant killer’ after he defeated BJP’s Parshottam Rupala in 2002, Dhanani grabbed the Patidar-dominated seat in 2017 as well as 2012. He was routed in 2007.

Dhanani has also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly.

Manoj Sorathiya

AAP Gujarat’s general secretary Manoj Sorathiya is a candidate from the Karanj seat.

Congress candidate Bharti Prakash Patel and BJP’s Pravinbhai Manjibhai Ghoghari will give a tough fight to Sorathiya.

Gopal Italia

AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia, who was in the race for the party’s chief ministerial candidate, will fight the elections from the Patidar-dominated Katargam Assembly seat in Surat city.

BJP’s candidate is the incumbent MLA Vinodbhai Amrishbhai Mordiya and Congress has fielded Kalpeshbhai Harjivanbhai Variya.

Rivaba Jadeja

Rivaba Jadeja is making her electoral debut with this year’s Gujarat polls. The wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja is BJP’s candidate from Jamnagar North. The saffron party dropped sitting Jamnagar North MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja who had won the seat in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls by 59 per cent of the votes.

આજરોજ સહયોગી સાઈબાબા સેવા ટ્રસ્ટ આયોજીત ૧૯ મો સર્વજ્ઞાતિય સમુહ લગ્ન મા ૧૬ નવદંપતી ને તેમના નવા જીવનની શરુવાત માટે શુભેચ્છા પાઠવી, સાથે ૭૮-ચૂંટણી ઇન્ચાર્જ શ્રી નિલેશભાઈ ઉદાણી, મનસુખભાઈ ખાણધર જોડાયા હતા.#કમળ_ખીલશે_ગુજરાત_જીતશે#જીતશે_જામનગર_ઉત્તર_૭૮ pic.twitter.com/rhlFd8RAAP

— Rivaba Ravindrasinh Jadeja (@Rivaba4BJP) November 27, 2022

Congress veteran Bipendrasinh Chatursinh Jadeja and AAP’s Karsan Karmur are in the fray against her.

Babu Bokhiria

BJP’s Babu Bokhiria is contesting against former Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia from the Porbandar seat.

AAP has nominated Jeevan Jungi from the seat. Bokhiria, 69, has won the seat in 1995, 1998, 2012 and 2017. The BJP has reimposed its faith on the incumbent MLA, who had trounced Modhwadia in 2002 and 2007.

Virji Thummar

Congress has once again given ticket to its incumbent MLA, Virji Thummar, from the Lathi seat in the Amreli district.

The grand old party leader was also elected to the Lok Sabha from the Amreli constituency in 2004. BJP’s Janakbhai Punabhai Talaviya and AAP candidate Jaysukhbhai Detroja will make attempts to defeat Thummar in the polls.

Kunwarji Bavaliya

BJP leader Kunwarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavaliya is contesting from the Jasdan constituency in Rajkot district against Congress’ Bholabhai Gohil and AAP nominee Tejas Gajipara.

Bavaliya has been a seven-time MLA from Jasdan, out of which six times he had won on a Congress ticket before switching to the saffron camp.

Bavaliya, a Koli community leader, was elected to Lok Sabha from Rajkot as a Congress MP in 2009.

Meanwhile, Gohil had won the Jasdan seat in 2012 on a Congress ticket.

Parshottam Solanki

Five-time MLA and prominent Koli community leader, Parshottam Solanki, is again BJP’s candidate for the Bhavnagar-Rural seat despite his ill health.

The sitting legislator from Bhavnagar-Rural is considered a ‘strongman’ in Gujarat, as per Economic Times.

Khumansinh Gohil from AAP and Congress’ Revatsinh Gohil will make attempts to rout Solanki.

BJP’s Bhagwan Barad, Harsh Sanghavi and Purnesh Modi as well as sitting Congress MLAs including Lalit Kagathara, Lalit Vasoya, Rutvik Makwana and Mohammad Javed Pirzada are also among the key candidates in the fray in the first phase of the Gujarat polls.

With inputs from agencies

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