Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: The Congress party today (November 16) released its final list of 37 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections, fielding former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela's son from the Bayad constituency. With the declaration of the seventh list, the Congress has announced 179 candidates for the polls to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly.
Sources said this was the last and final list of candidates. The Congress has an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the assembly polls and the Sharad Pawar-led party is set to contest on three seats. The seventh list of 37 candidates included Mahendrasinh Vaghela from Bayad, Ramesh Koli from Sanand, Chirag Patel from Khambhat, Harshadbhai Ninama from Dahod (ST) and Mahesh Patel from Palanpur.
Mahendrasinh Vaghela joined the Congress last month. The 58-year-old former MLA was a Congress legislator from Bayad in north Gujarat between 2012 and 2017. He had quit the party in August 2017, a few months before the Assembly elections, and later joined the BJP. The party also fielded Rashmitaben Chauhan from Godhra, Gunvantrai Parmar from Vadodara city (SC) and Virendrasinh Vaghela from Gandhinagar north, among others.
The Congress on November 4 had released its first list announcing the names of 43 candidates for the elections. On November 10, the party came out with another list of 46 names. It released a list of seven candidates last Friday but one was a replacement for the earlier announced candidate. The fourth list of nine candidates was released on Saturday.
The party first released its fifth list on Sunday with five candidates and one replacement- Manhar Patel from Botad in place of Ramesh Mer. Later that evening, it released a list of 33 candidates. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP from power in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi where the saffron party has been in power for more than two decades.
The assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
(With agencies inputs)
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