New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday announced its second list of 9 nominees for the upcoming Gujarat elections.
This comes after the party announced 10 candidates for the upcoming polls which it claimed included members of tribal, backward, and scheduled caste communities.
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In the new list, AAP has named the following candidates:
- Raju Karpada - Chotila
- Piyush Parmar - Mangrol (Junagadh)
- Karsanbhai Karmur - Jamnagar North
- Nimisha Khunt - Gondal
- Prakashbhai Contractor - Choryasi
- Vikram Sorani - Wankaner
- Bharat Vakhala - Devgadhbaria
- JJ Mevada - Asarwa
- Vipul Sakhiya - Dhoraji
Earlier this month, the AAP became the first party to declare candidates for the polls in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal in a rally in Gir Somnath district promised a monthly unemployment allowance and guaranteed job to every youth in Gujarat if his party is voted to power.
Among the ten candidates named earlier, Gujarat AAP vice president Bhemabhai Choudhary was nominated from the Deodar Assembly seat in the Banaskantha district.
Another state vice president Jagmal Vala will contest from the Somnath seat. Two other state vice presidents – Arjun Rathva and Sagar Rabari – have been nominated from Chhotaudepur (ST) and Bechraji seats, respectively.
The party chose Dalit leader and former Congressman from Rajkot, Vashram Sagathiya, for the Rajkot-Rural seat, state AAP secretary Ram Dhaduk has been given the ticket from Kamrej seat in Surat city.
Gujarat AAP’s state trade wing president Shivlal Barasia is the nominee from the Rajkot South seat. Sudhir Vaghani, the Gujarat joint secretary, is the AAP’s candidate from the Gariyadhar seat, and cooperative leader Rajendra Solanki from the Bardoli segment in the Surat district.
“The logic behind announcing the names early is to give more time to candidates to meet and connect with the people of their respective seats. In the first list, we have accommodated candidates of OBC, SC and ST communities,” said state unit president Italia had said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Omprakash Tiwari, who fought and lost as a Congress candidate in 2017 polls, has been given a ticket from the Naroda constituency in Ahmedabad.
The AAP had said it will contest all the 182 seats in Gujarat
The schedule for the Assembly elections is yet to be decided by the Election Commission. In 2017, Gujarat went to the polls in December.