Page 11 - Gujarat Elections

AIMIM eyes SC seats in Gujarat, but move to cut into Congress votes

'The party is planning to contest 30 Assembly seats that includes Muslims, Dalits, tribal and even general-dominated seats'

Gujarat Assembly polls: Kejriwal leads 'Tiranga yatras' in Kutch district

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday led 'Tiranga yatras' (Tricolour marches) in Gandhidham and Anjar in poll-bound Gujarat's Kutch district. Kejriwal's colleague and Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann held road shows in three Muslim-dominated areas of Ahmedabad. Assembly polls will be held in the state in two phases on December 1 and 5 and votes will be counted on December 8. "You have given the Bharatiya Janata Party 27 years. Give us five years," Kejriwal said in Gandhidham and Anjar. The marches at both places were well-attended. "If we come to power, we will pay your electricity bills, we will make good schools for your children, we will make good hospitals in which you will be given free treatment," he said in Gandhidham. Kejriwal claimed voting for the Congress was futile as its legislators would later defect to the BJP. Mann's road shows were held in Muslim-dominated Jamalpur, Danilimbda and Asarwa in Ahmedabad city, where

Gujarat Assembly polls: PM to address rally in Valsad district on Sunday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting in Valsad district of poll-bound Gujarat on Sunday and attend a mass marriage programme in Bhavnagar, a BJP functionary said on Saturday. This will be the first visit of the prime minister to his home state after the elections were declared by the Election Commission. PM Modi will address a rally in Nana Pondha in Valsad district on Sunday afternoon. He will attend a mass marriage function in Bhavnagar in the evening, BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave said. Elections will be held in Gujarat in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8. The poll contest will be triangular in view of the Aam Aadmi Party's entry into the fray. In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won 99 seats and the Congress 77 of the total 182 seats.

Congress releases first list of 43 candidates for Gujarat Assembly polls

The list has some prominent names including Bharat V Solanki from Gandhidham, Ameeben Yagnik from Ghatlodia and Arjun Modhwadiya from Porbandar.

BJP expects to win more seats in Gujarat than forecast in opinion poll

The surprise package is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that is projected to win between 7 and 15 seats. As a party, AAP was non-existent in Gujarat in the 2017 elections.

Gujarat Assembly polls: Congress announces first list of 43 candidates

The Congress on Friday released its first list of 43 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. According to the list released here, former Gujarat Congress chief Arjun Modhwadiya has been fielded from Porbandar, Himanshu Patel from Gandhinagar South and Hiteshbhai Vora from Rajkot South. The list was declared after candidates' names were finalised during a meeting of the party's central election committee (CEC) chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined the meeting online, while the rest of the participants attended it physically at the AICC headquarters here. The Congress is seeking to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from government in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the saffron party has been in power for more than two decades. Elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5 -- and the votes

AAP names former TV anchor Isudan Gadhvi as CM candidate for Gujarat

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday named former TV anchor and journalist Isudan Gadhvi as its chief ministerial candidate for next month's Assembly elections in Gujarat. The announcement was made by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who said the 40-year-old Gadhvi got as many as 73 per cent votes in a poll conducted by the party. Gadhvi was pitted against state party unit chief Gopal Italia, who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation. He hails from a farmers' family in Dwarka district's Pipaliya village and belongs to the other backward castes, which account for 48 per cent of the state's population. Kejriwal said the party conducted the poll by asking people to call a phone number and listen to a recorded message which asked them to choose their chief ministerial face.

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Journalist-turned-politician Gadhvi tasked with 'anchoring' AAP win in Guj

From news reporting to himself becoming news, former television anchor Isudan Gadhvi, who was born in a farming family, has had a swift rise in politics and has become the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat just a year after he joined the fledgling outfit led by Arvind Kejriwal. Gadhvi (40) started his career as a journalist with a local news channel around 17 years ago after acquiring a degree in journalism from the Gujarat Vidyapith, a deemed university in Ahmedabad founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. Just last year he joined the AAP and his big moment came on Friday when Gadhvi was declared the party's chief ministerial candidate in Gujarat, where Assembly polls for the 182-member House will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The declaration was made in Ahmedabad by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, who has been positioning his party as the main challenger of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been ruling Gujarat

Bookies believe BJP heading for big win in Gujarat assembly polls

Political watchers say bookies appear to have noticed that the BJP is not facing any challenge in winning over the dominant Patel community in the state

Kejriwal to announce AAP's CM candidate for Gujarat Assembly polls today

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal will announce on Friday the name of the party's chief ministerial candidate for the next month's Gujarat Assembly elections, party office-bearers said. This candidate will be named on the basis of opinion submitted to the party by the people of the state, they said. Those in the race for the top post from the AAP include its state unit president Gopal Italia, national general secretary Isudan Gadhvi and general secretary Manoj Soratihya, party sources said. Kejriwal is scheduled to hold a press conference in Ahmedabad on Friday to announce the name, the party said in a statement on Thursday. Last week, Kejriwal had urged people to contact the party through SMS, WhatsApp, voice mail and e-mail to give their views about who should be the CM candidate from the party in the state, which is currently being ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had said that people could submit their points of view till November 3 evening a

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Morbi bridge collapse a factor in delay in Gujarat poll announcement: CEC

The Morbi suspension bridge collapse was one of the reasons for the delay in announcement of the Gujarat assembly elections, the Election Commission said on Thursday. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar told a press conference that the commission would also examine whether the release of the inquiry report into the Morbi tragedy, which left 135 people dead, would disturb the level playing field in the two-phase elections scheduled for Gujarat on December 1 and December 5. The Morbi assembly seat, currently represented by Brijesh Merja of the BJP, goes to polls in the first phase on December 1. "The Model Code of Conduct guidelines have been prescribed specifically. If any decision disturbs the level playing field, then the commission will look into it," Kumar said responding to questions on whether the release of the inquiry report into the bridge collapse would violate the model code. He indicated that the elections could have been announced a couple of days earlier, but

Gujarat Assembly elections to be held in 2 phases, results on Dec 8

EC rubbishes Opposition parties' charge that it delayed announcing dates

BJP chief Nadda says party will form govt in Gujarat with big majority

BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday welcomed the announcement of the Gujarat assembly polls and claimed that his party will again form "double engine" government in the state with a big majority under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. In a tweet after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, Nadda added that the BJP will work with commitment to fulfil people's aspirations in the next five years. Assembly elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 with the counting of votes on December 8 along with that of Himachal Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced on Thursday. Of the total 182 assembly seats in Gujarat, voting for 89 seats will be held on December 1 and the remaining 93 seats on December 5, Kumar told a press conference that was also attended by Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey and senior officials from the poll authority. The BJP has won six consecutive assembly polls since 1995 with the Congress ...

Gujarat: 3-way poll contest in bipolar state politics, all eyes on AAP

Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat's electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling BJP as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has significant presence. Elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday in the backdrop of the Morbi bridge collapse four days ago. As campaign knives get sharpened, the October 30 tragedy in which 135 people lost their lives could find emotive resonance. Besides, the freebie versus welfarism debate - over which challenger AAP and BJP have been sparring over the last several weeks -- and the ruling party's main poll planks of Hindutva, 'double engine' growth' and continuity in governance are likely to remain centrestage. Though elections were announced today, the buzz for what will be a three-cornered contest has been getting steadily louder over the last few weeks. Prime .

Amit Shah chairs meeting in Gandhinagar ahead of Gujarat state polls

Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a meeting with party leaders in the state's capital, Gandhinagar ahead of the Gujarat Assembly Elections

Gujarat elections to be held in two phases on Dec 1, 5; result on Dec 8

Gujarat has a 182 member assembly and the BJP had pulled off its sixth consecutive victory winning 99 seats in the last polls, while the Congress put up a spirited fight by bagging 77 seats

Election Commission to announce Gujarat poll schedule at 12 pm today

The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Gujarat assembly polls at 12 noon on Thursday. The poll panel has convened a press conference to announce the schedule. The term of the 182-member Gujarat assembly ends on February 18 next year. Citing the convention followed in 2017, the poll panel had not announced the Gujarat election schedule when it came out with Himachal Pradesh poll dates last month. While elections in Himachal Pradesh will be held in a single phase on November 12, the counting of votes will take place on December 8. By keeping the counting date for Himachal Pradesh nearly a month after the polling, the commission had given a clear hint that votes for Gujarat would also be counted on December 8. In 2017, the polls in the two states were announced on different dates but the counting took place together on December 18. Floods in Gujarat had led the EC to hold polls in the state after the Himachal Pradesh poll schedule was announced.

Won't allow BJP to implement CAA, says Mamata; it will be done: Minister

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre for the possible implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, claiming that the BJP was raking the issue ahead of the Gujarat assembly election. Hours later, Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik asserted that the CAA will be gradually implemented across the country. The Centre had on Monday decided to grant Indian citizenship to minorities mostly from Pakistan, who have migrated to India, and are currently living in two districts of Gujarat, under the Citizenship Act, 1955, and not the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). "Stop all these politics. They (BJP) are doing it because there are elections in Gujarat. We will not let them implement it. To us, all are citizens (of India). We are against this," Banerjee told reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for Chennai. She has travelled to the southern Indian city to attend a family gathering of West Bengal Governor La Ganesan. "I