Lok Sabha elections 2024: Congress candidates in Gujarat will file their nomination forms for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next week. Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said nominations will be filed between April 15 and 18, excluding Wednesday (April 17) which is a holiday on account of Ram Navami.
All 26 constituencies in Gujarat will vote on May 7 in the third phase of the general elections. Bypolls for five assembly segments are also scheduled to be held in the state on that day.
The Congress has so far fielded candidates on 20 constituencies while nominees for four more seats are yet to be announced. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared candidates for two seats it will contest in alliance with Congress under the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
Senior leaders of Congress will accompany the candidates when they submit their nomination forms to the returning officers of the respective constituencies, as per a statement issued by the party. Gujarat Congress chief Shaktisinh Gohil, senior leaders Jagdish Thakor, Bharatsinh Solanki, Siddharth Patel, Amit Chavda, Rajya Sabha member Amiben Yagnik, among others, will remain present when the candidates submit nomination forms, it said.
Congress nominees for Banaskantha, Surendranagar, Jamnagar and Bardoli will file their nomination forms on April 15 and candidates for Kutch, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad West, Amreli, Chhotaudepur, Valsad, Panchmahal and Porbandar on Tuesday (April 16). Nomination forms for Patan, Junagadh, Anand, Kheda, Dahod, Vadodara and Surat will be submitted on Thursday, the party said.
"Candidates will file their nomination forms for three days beginning Monday, except Wednesday as it is a holiday for Ram Navami. Nominations will be filed on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday," Doshi said.
When will Gujarat vote?
The five assembly constituencies that will vote on May 7 are Bijapur, Porbandar, Manavadar, Khambhat and Waghodia. Filing of nominations for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections and upcoming by-polls began on April 12.
Nomination papers can be submitted until April 19, and scrutiny will take place on April 20. The candidates whose nominations are deemed valid can withdraw their candidature until 3 pm on April 22. The Bharatiya Janata Party had won all 26 constituencies in Gujarat in the 2019 general elections while Congress drew a blank.
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