The strategies adopted for the battle of Gujarat Assembly elections by major political parties and regional parties are fast getting cleared. With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) releasing a list of 70 candidates on Friday and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) releasing the list of 21 candidates earlier, the election momentum in Gujarat is slowly increasing.
Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on 7 and 14 December and the results will be declared on 18 December along with Himachal Assembly elections result.
The first phase will cover 89 constituencies in 19 districts, and the second phase 93 seats in 14 districts.
Here is quick look at regional parties competing in Gujarat elections:
Lok Janshakti Party
On Friday, another NDA ally of the BJP, Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) declared its support to the BJP in the Gujarat elections and has decided not to field any candidates in the state.
The LJP was formed in 2000 when Paswan split from the JD(U). The party led by Paswan has a considerable following amongst Dalits in Bihar and has been with the NDA since 2014.
The party senior Ram Vilas Paswan has already campaigned extensively for BJP in the state to help it attract Dalit voters.
Janata Dal (United)
The other important parties to openly declare their plans for the coming elections include both the factions of the Janata Dal (United) – Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav.
While the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) has already decided to fight the elections as an independent party, without any tie-up with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally in Bihar, the BJP, it has declared a list of 12 candidates who would be fighting mainly from the tribal regions of the state.
While the Sharad Yadav’s faction of JD(U) is said to be fighting the election alongside the Congress party and the two parties are in talks for seat-sharing arrangements.
Samajwadi Party
The Uttar Pradesh based Samajwadi Party (SP) under the stewardship of the UP ex-chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has said that it has already decided to contest five seats in Gujarat and is waiting for the Congress to respond to its proposal for a joint front on all other seats. The party said that it was waiting for the Congress to respond to its overtures.
The SP has shortlisted the Assembly seats of Pardi, Mandvi, Dhoraji, Jamjodhpur, and Somnath to contest the elections and has lined up its star campaigners including Akhilesh Yadav, Jaya Bachchan, Azam Khan to come to Gujarat.
According to Samajwadi Party’s Gujarat Chairperson Surendra Yadav, the party has decided to field Mahendra Yadav from Pardi (Ahmedabad) constituency, Shailesh Bhavishankar Joshi from Kutch’s Mandvi seat, Jailbhai Phogalbhai Der from Dhoraji seat of Rajkot, Mohanbhai Hirjibhai Rabdia from Jamjodhpur seat in Jamnagar and Jagmal Jadhav from Somnath to contest the election.