The suspense over the BJP’s first list of candidates for the upcoming Gujarat assembly election is finally over, with the ruling party preferring to field 55 sitting MLAs and thereby hoping to retain those seats at a time when the Opposition led by the Congress and its supporting groupings are expected to put up some challenge.
Of the 70 names declared today, 49 are from the BJP, one Independent candidate, and five who were formerly Congress MLAS. The key names include Chief Minister Vijay Rupani who will contest from Rajkot (West), Deputy CM Nitin Patel from Mehsana and state BJP president Jitu Vaghani who will contest from Bhavnagar (West).