The Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) on Sunday announced the first list of candidates for 12 assembly constituencies in Gujarat, including nine Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seats.
BTP’s Gujarat president Ramesh Vasava said the party will field its candidates on all 27 ST-reserved seats across the state for next month’s elections.
The party had won two seats in the 2017 elections in the state.
Apart from the nine ST-reserved seats for which it announced candidates, the BTP also announced its candidates for Karjan, Jambusar and Olpad, seats for general category candidates.
The remaining nine seats are Bhiloda, Jhalod, Dahod, Sankheda, Nandod, Vyara, Nijar, Dang and Dharampur.
“Apart from the 27 tribal-reserved seats, we will also field our candidates in seats with 30 to 40 per cent tribal voters like Ankleshwar and Olpad,” Vasava said.
At present, the BTP has two seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly – Jhagadia in Bharuch and Dediapara in Narmada district.
While BTP founder Chhotu Vasava represents Jhagadia assembly constituency, his son and BTP national president Mahesh Vasava represents Dediapada.
Recently, Chhotu Vasava ended his short-lived pre-poll alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Gujarat. Though elections are near, he is yet to open his cards about any possibility of a seat-sharing deal with the Congress.
Elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases – on December 1 and 5.
According to the 2011 census, Gujarat had 89.17 lakh tribals, which is about 15 percent of its total population. The members of the community are largely spread over the 14 eastern districts of the state. The tribal population is concentrated in 48 taluks.
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