Gujarat’s chief minister and his deputy were among 70 candidates the BJP announced on Friday for the two-phase state assembly elections starting December 9.
The meeting to finalise the names was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and party chief Amit Shah among others.
The contest in Gujarat, Modi’s home state where the BJP has been in power for 22 years, will be keenly watched for signs of voter reaction to some of his radical economic policies that the opposition Congress party is trying to leverage to regain political ground.
The BJP has also been facing angry protests by the state’s powerful Patidar community that has been demanding a quota in education and government jobs, although most experts see the party retaining power in its citadel.
Friday’s list signalled that the party would try to blunt some of that criticism by keeping its faith with prominent Patidar leaders, including deputy chief minister Nitin Patel who retains his constituency of Mehsana. Chief minister Vijay Rupani will contest from Rajkot West.
The list also names five Congress rebels – Raghavji Patel (Jamnagar Rural), Dharmendra Jadeja (Jamnagar North), CK Raul (Godhra), Ramsinh Parmar (Thasra) and Mansinh Chauhan (Balasinor) – 16 candidates from the Patidar community and four women. It has retained 49 sitting MLAs.
Here is the full list of candidates:
