Gujarat assembly elections: Congress party announces first list of 43 candidates

Some prominent names on this list include Bharat V Solanki from Gandhidham, Amiben Yagnik from Ghatlodia and Arjun Modhwadia from Porbandar.

The party has fielded Ramesh Bhai Dangar from Anjar, Sanjaybhai Gobajhai Rabari from Deesa and Himanshu V Patel from Gandhinagar South.

Polling for the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases, the first phase on December 1 and the second phase on December 5. Counting of votes will take place on December 8. The state has been in power for 27 years. The Congress is also facing a tough challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party.

Read also: Explained: Gujarat assembly election in numbers; Polling date, and others

Earlier in 2017, BJP had won 99 seats, while Congress had won 77 seats with 49.05% and 42.97% votes respectively.

The Election Commission had also said that it was setting up over 1200 polling stations, especially for women. To encourage young voters, 33 stations will have the youngest employees of the Election Commission while 182 stations will have persons with disabilities.

“A total of 51,782 polling stations will be set up across Gujarat. Of these, 1,274 will be managed by women polling and security personnel.”

Also, there will be facility of home voting for 80 years+ and PWD voter with benchmark 40 percent disability. Gujarat has a total of over 4.9 crore eligible voters, of which 4.6 lakh are first-time voters.

The term of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly is ending on February 18, 2023 and elections have been announced 110 days in advance.

The entry of AAP has accelerated the Gujarat elections as the BJP seeks to continue its uninterrupted winning streak there since 1995, while the main opposition Congress is working to ramp up its campaign.

(with inputs from ANI)