Gujarat Polls: BJP Releases Third List Of Candidates, Fields Alpesh Thakor From Gandhinagar South

Alpesh Thakor, formerly associated with the Congress party, has been fielded from Gandhinagar South. He contested in the last election from Radhanpur.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its third list of candidates on Monday. Alpesh Thakor, formerly associated with the Congress party, has been fielded from Gandhinagar South, Alpesh contested his last election from Radhanpur.

Thakor, who was one of the faces of the anti-BJP uproar in the state during the 2017 elections, joined the BJP in 2019. He was elected on a Congress ticket in 2017 but lost his Radhanpur seat in a byelection in 2019.

The official Twitter handle of the Gujarat wing of the party posted the list. 

Loving Ji Thakor has been made the candidate from Radhanpur. The party has so far announced the names of 178 candidates for the Gujarat elections.

BJP has nominated Ritaben Patel from Gandhinagar North. In the Saurashtra area, both the BJP and the Congress have changed one candidate each in the Wadhwan and Botad seats.

The adjustments were made after the candidates assigned to the seats expressed a desire not to run for them, prompting the two parties to announce their replacements on Sunday night, news agency PTI reported. 

The BJP has replaced Jigna Pandya on the Wadhwan seat in Surendranagar district with its district unit president Jagdish Makwana. The Congress has replaced district unit president Ramesh Mer with party spokesperson Manhar Patel in Botad.

The BJP announced its second list of six candidates earlier on Saturday. The BJP included two women on their second list of six candidates. Mahendrabhai Padaliya from Dhoraji, Mulubhai Bera from Khambhalia, Dheliben Maldebhai Odedara from Kutiyana, Sejal Rajeev Kumar Pandya from Bhavnagar East, Hitesh Devji Vasava from Dediapada (ST) and Sandeep Desai from Chorayasi were fielded, as per the second list of the party. 

Gujarat Assembly elections will be contested in two phases on December 1 and December 5. The results will be announced on December 8.  Polling will take place on 89 of the total 182 assembly seats in the first phase, and major political parties have declared candidates for nearly all of these constituencies.