Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections, which will be held on December 1, ended at 5 pm on Tuesday. A total of 788 candidates are in the fray for 89 seats across 19 districts of south Gujarat and Kutch-Saurashtra regions, where voting will be held on Thursday.
The state, which has traditionally witnessed a bipolar contest between the ruling BJP and Congress, has a third player this time in the form of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which has fielded candidates on 181 out of total of 182 seats in the assembly.
Among notable candidates in the first phase is AAP’s chief ministerial face Isudan Gadhvi, who is contesting from Khambhalia in Devbhumi Dwarka district. Former Gujarat minister Parshottam Solanki, six-time MLA Kunwarji Bavaliya, Morbi ‘hero’ Kantilal Amrutiya, cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife Rivaba, and Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia are also in the fray.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP’s campaign for the first phase while union home minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and a host of other BJP leaders also addressed several rallies.
Candidates in the fray
In the first phase, 89 candidates each of the BJP and Congress, and 88 of the AAP are in the fray. AAP candidate for Surat East withdrew his nomination on the last day.
BJP has fielded nine, Congress six and AAP five women candidates in the first phase. Of total 788 candidates in the first phase, 718 are male and only 70 female.
Mayavati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded 57 candidates in the first phase, Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) has fielded 14, Samajwadi Party 12, Communist Party of India (Marxist) four, Communist Party of India two candidates. There are 339 independents.
