PM Modi to Contest 2019 Lok Sabha Elections from Gujarat’s Rajkot?

In 2014 general elections, PM Narendra Modi had contested from Varanasi and Vadodara.

File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(Photo: PIB/Twitter)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat’s Rajkot seat, reported news channel TV9 Gujarat. There is, however, no official confirmation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

BJP’s Mohanbhai Kundariya is the sitting Member of Parliament from the constituency.

The then prime ministerial candidate, Modi had contested from two constituencies – Gujarat’s Vadodara and Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi – in the 2014 general elections.

He had won from both the seats, defeating Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi and Congress’ Madhusudan Mistry in Vadodara.

However, to comply with election norms, Modi had vacated the Vadodara seat. Before his foray into national politics, PM Modi was a three-time chief minister of Gujarat.

Why Rajkot?

For over three decades, Rajkot has been a saffron bastion, with the BJP losing the seat only once – during the 2009 general elections. Modi had won his first-ever election (Assembly polls) from this seat in 2002.

Former Congress strongman Kunvarji Bavaliya, who had won the seat for his party in 2009, has switched loyalties to the BJP. A Gujarat Cabinet minister, Bavaliya is likely to play a key role in influencing the Koli-Patel vote bank in the region.

In another notable development, Rajkot had pipped Vadodara to win a tug-of-war for getting an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The Centre had cited recommendations by a high-level committee to finalise its decision. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel had also hinted that experts may have picked Rajkot in view of the health infrastructure facilities in the two cities.

(With inputs from TV9 Gujarat)