Congress In ‘Tie-Up Talks’ With NCP And BTP For Upcoming Gujarat Assembly Election

Gujarat Assembly Election 2022: The Election Commission is yet to announce the poll schedule for BJP-ruled Gujarat.

Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally at the Sabarmati River Front in Ahmedabad (Source: File photo/AFP)

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming assembly election, the Congress party may form an alliance with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) in Gujarat, said sources. All three parties will reportedly fight unitedly against the BJP in the state assembly elections.

Meanwhile, Congress can leave four seats each for NCP and BTP under the alliance, according to the sources. Even in the last assembly elections, the grand old party Congress had an alliance with the BTP founder and MLA Chhotubhai Vasava. BTP got six seats, of which it won two. Once again these two parties are coming together. There was also a discussion in the Congress Central Election Committee last evening regarding the alliance.

The Election Commission is yet to announce the poll schedule for BJP-ruled Gujarat as speculations are rife that the election may take place in two phases.

The elections in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat are due this year-end. While Election Commission has released the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh, an announcement for Gujarat polls is awaited.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 99 seats, while the opposition Congress improved its tally to 77. In the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections, 57.20% voter turnout was recorded in the Dhandhuka constituency and voting for this seat was held in the second phase of elections on 14 December 2017. The BJP won this seat in the 2012 Gujarat Assembly elections.

The BJP, which has been in power in the state for close to three decades, has set a target to win 150 of the total 182 seats. If the party could pull off this feat, it would break the 1985 record of 149 seats won by Congress under Madhavsinh Solanki.