NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday released its first list of 70 candidates for the upcoming elections to the 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The polls are to be held in two phases on December 9 and 14.The meeting, chaired by BJP president Amit Shah, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj among others, party leaders said. CM Vijay Rupani will again contest from Rajkot West in Saurashtra and Deputy CM Patel has been fielded from the Mehsana seat.The BJP has also given tickets to five rebel Congress who quit their party and joined the BJP during the Presidential election and the Rajya Sabha election of Ahmed Patel.The list, which has 70 names, comprises 45 for the first phase of polls and 25 for the second stage.The party has repeated most of the sitting legislators. The list also included five Congress rebels, including Raghavji Patel , Dharmendra Jadeja, CK Raul, Ramsinh Parmar.The Lok Janshakti Party on Friday said it would not field any candidate for Gujarat polls and announced its support to ally BJP in the election.
Gujarat Elections 2017: BJP Releases First List Of 70 Candidates
