Gujarat: AAP declares first list of 10 candidates five months ahead of polls

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has emerged as a serious player in the Gujarat elections, was the first to release its initial list of 10 candidates on Tuesday, even as it has already announced that the party would contest all 182 seats in the polls expected to be held in December this year.

Releasing the list, AAP Gujarat president Gopal Italia stated that the party would release its next list of candidates soon and that the 10 nominees announced on Tuesday included tribals, Dalits and Other Backward Classes.

The list has been announced when the Election Commission is yet to decide the schedule for the Gujarat polls. The last elections were held in December 2017.

The list announced Tuesday has three State vice-presidents, Bhemabhai Chaudhary from Deodar and Sagar Rabari from Becharaji in North Gujarat, Jagmal Vala from Somnath in Saurashtra and Arjun Rathwa from Chhotaudepur (Scheduled Tribe) in central Gujarat.

The Gujarat AAP chief told media persons, "The party has announced the list early and would do so for all 182 seats before the elections are declared. This is to ensure that our candidates get more time to connect with the voters in their respective constituencies."

Among other candidates, Dalit leader and former Congress leader from Rajkot, Vashram Sagathiya, has been fielded from the Rajkot Rural seat, while state AAP secretary Ram Dhaduk will contest from Kamrej constituency in Surat.

The president of the State AAP’s trade wing, Shivlal Barasia, has been nominated from the Rajkot South seat and Sudhir Vaghani, the Gujarat joint secretary, has been chosen for Gariyadhar – both in the Saurashtra region, while cooperative leader Rajendra Solanki is the candidate from Bardoli in Surat district.

Omprakash Tiwari, who lost the 2017 polls as a Congress candidate, will be the AAP’s candidate from the Naroda constituency in Ahmedabad.