Gandhinagar seat, from where Amit Shah is contesting, sees maximum form withdrawals

A total of 371 candidates are in fray for 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat. On the last day of withdrawal of nominations on Monday, maximum forms were withdrawn from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency from where BJP national president Amit Shah is contesting. The Congress seems to have failed in avoiding tripartite contest in several districts.

Out of 45 candidates who had filed their nomination from Gandhinagar LS seat, 11 were rejected after scrutiny on April 5. On Monday, 17 of the 34 candidates withdrew their forms in Gandhinagar.

Interestingly, no candidate withdrew his nomination in Ahmedabad West, Kutch, Surat, Navsari, Valsad and Chhota Udepur seats.

Surendranagar has a maximum of 31 candidates contesting this year. Only six candidates are contesting from Panchmahal. Ahmedabad East has 26, Jamnagar 28, Bharuch 17, Sabarkantha 20 and Navsari 25 candidates.

Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Dilip Sabva who had filed his nomination from Gandhinagar also withdrew the same on Monday. Explaining the reason for opting out of the poll fray, the Patidar quota agitation leader claimed he did not wish to take the blame for division of anti-BJP votes in the constituency.

While Shah is BJP’s candidate in Gandhinagar, the Congress has given ticket to sitting MLA C J Chavda for the prestigious seat. “I had urged the Congress to support my candidature instead of fielding their own candidate. However, they eventually fielded their own candidate,” said Sabva.

“After meeting the people of Gandhinagar during the last couple of days, I realised that Chavda’s defeat is imminent,” said Sabva, organisation in-charge of PAAS in Gujarat.

Sabva was in the fray as an independent candidate. “Now that Chavda is set to lose the election, I do not want people to blame me for the division of anti-BJP votes. If I stay in the fray, Congress will claim that their candidate lost because of me,” Sabva added.

Congress has not been able to handle tripartite contest despite several sessions of negotiations with the dissatisfied leaders. Lalji Mer, a party leader, has filed nomination as independent candidate from Surendranagar as he has not been given mandate by Congress party which has fielded Somabhai Patel, a Koli leader, from the seat.

Party leaders were trying hard to convince Mer to withdraw his candidature. However, confirming that he has not withdrawn his candidature, Returning Officer of Surendranagar constituency Kankpati Rajesh said, “There are 12 withdrawals from Surendranagar. The list does not include Lalji Mer.”

Lalji Mer (L) is fighting as Independent; Chhotu Vasava’s (centre) BTP has not withdrawn any form; Dilip Sabva (R) withdrew his form from Gandhinagar on Monday, the last date of withdrawing nominations

No withdrawals from BTP, tough fight for Cong

Congress is likely to see a strong fight on seven seats where Bharatiya Tribal Party has fielded their candidates. They have not withdrawn candidates from any of the seats. BTP founder Chhotu Vasava is contesting the election from Bharuch seat. Sources had said that Congress high command was negotiating with Vasava to withdraw his party candidature from Valsad while Congress would withdraw theirs from Bharuch. It does not seem to have worked out, according to sources.

These are the seats where tripartite contest is likely to benefit BJP. Kheda seat was also problematic for Congress as Kapadvanj MLA Kalubhai Dabhi was upset with Bimal Shah’s candidature. However, Congress leaders were confident that Dabhi will support Shah. Talking to Mirror, Kalubhai Dabhi said, “It was a miscommunication that made many local leaders resign. However, we are dedicated to the Congress party and cannot cut our ties with it. All my community leaders are going to support Congress and ensure Bimal Shah’s victory.”