Gujarat BJP Candidates: CM Patel, Former Morbi MLA, Hardik Patel In First List Of 160 Names — Details

Gujarat BJP Candidates 2022 List: The BJP is eyeing a seventh consecutive victory in the state as it also aims to set a new record in terms of the number of seats won.

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupender Yadav, Dushyant Kumar Gautam, and CR Patil announced the Gujarat candidates at BJP headquarters in New Delhi. ( Image Source :ANI )

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced its candidates for 160 constituencies in the upcoming Gujarat Election. The prominent names announced include Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, former Morbi MLA Kantilal Amrutya, Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja, and Hardik Patel.

CM Bhupendra Patel will contest the elections from the Ghatlodiya constituency.

The BJP fielded Kantilal Amrutya, a former MLA from Morbi, who reportedly jumped into the river to save people in the recent bridge collapse incident, a tragedy that killed more than 130 people.

Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja will contest from the Jamnagar North constituency. Gujarat Home minister Harsh Sanghavi will contest the election from the Majura constituency.

Former Congress leader Hardik Patel has been fielded as a BJP candidate from the Viramgam constituency. 

While the 69 sitting MLAs have been fielded from their respective seats again, the ruling has given tickets to 38 new faces among the 160 names announced.

The list comes after a meeting of the BJP central election committee held on Wednesday to finalise the party's candidates with Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor who left the Congress to join it among the probables.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP president JP Nadda and other top leaders attended the meeting at the party headquarters.

In the fiercely fought Gujarat election five years ago, the BJP had won 99 seats and its main rival Congress bagged 77 seats.

The BJP is eyeing a seventh consecutive victory in the state as it also aims to set a new record in terms of the number of seats won. BJP's move to change candidates for 38 seats can be seen as the saffron party's move to inject new energy into the organisation.

News agency PTI earlier reported sources as saying that there was a possibility of dropping several senior leaders from the list of candidates as they said the party has received suggestions that it should opt for new and young faces.

Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and former deputy CM Nitin Patel and two other senior leaders -- Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradipsinh Jadeja -- have already announced that they would not contest the upcoming assembly polls.

Currently, the BJP's strength in the 182-member Assembly is 111 after several MLAs from Congress defected to it.

The Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) entry into Gujarat this time has opened a new front in the otherwise bipolar election.

Polling will be held in two phases in Gujarat on December 1 and 5. 

(With Agency Inputs)