With the announcement for bypolls in eight Assembly seats in Gujarat, both the BJP and the Congress have begun the exercise of selection of candidates for the seats, where polls have been necessitated by the defection of sitting legislators from the Congress to the ruling party earlier during the Rajya Sabha elections.
As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), eight Assembly seats in the State will go for voting on November 3. Counting will be held on November 10. The seats to go for the bypolls are Dhari, Limbadi, Dangs, Kaprada, Karjan, Gadhda, Morbi and Abdasa.
The BJP is likely to field Congress defectors in 4 to 5 seats, while in the remaining seats, it is likely to field its own candidates. Many Congress legislators were promised tickets by the party when they joined the BJP, resigning from the Assembly in March and July this year during the Rajya Sabha polls.
The ruling party is likely to face opposition from its own cadre for importing leaders from the Opposition party and fielding them while neglecting loyal party leaders.
Earlier, two prominent leaders who had joined the BJP — Alpesh Thakor and Dhawal Jala — had lost the bypolls after defecting from the Congress and contesting on BJP tickets.
This will also be the first round of major elections after C.R. Paatil took over as the Gujarat BJP president. Earlier, Mr. Paatil had publicly expressed his displeasure over importing Congress leaders to the BJP, and had stated that the practice should stop.
On the Opposition party front, State Congress leaders, along with AICC in charge of the State, Rajeev Satav, held a review meeting to screen potential candidates for the eight seats. The party leaders have reportedly prepared a panel of 3-4 potential candidates for every seat. Candidates will be finalised after deliberations and consultation with local leaders and cadre.
Both parties have already appointed seat-wise observers and in-charge leaders.
Meanwhile, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will not be be any large scale campaigning through rallies and meetings. Both parties will go for digital campaigning using social media platforms and holding group meetings of 100-200 people.
There are 172 members in the 182-member House, of which 103 are from the BJP, 65 from Congress, two from the Bharatiya Tribal Party, one from the NCP and one Independent member. The elections for two other vacant seats of Dwarka and Morva Hadaf have not been announced yet, as matters related to the seats are sub-judice and pending before the Supreme Court.