Gujarat elections: BJP begins process for selection of candidates

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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday initiated a process to collect feedback from party workers at the local level in Gujarat for selection of candidates for the upcoming state Assembly polls.

Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly are due in December, and the state is likely to witness a three-cornered fight - among the BJP, opposition Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - this time.

Beginning Thursday, a three-member team of observers appointed by the BJP for each of 33 districts and five major cities in Gujarat started meeting party workers.

The process will go on for three days, during which the teams will take into account the views of the ticket aspirants from every constituency, party members said.

As part of the process, a report will be prepared by the observers on the basis of the feedback, which will be submitted to the state BJP. It will form the basis for the selection of candidates for the upcoming polls, they added.

A total of 38 teams, which include current and former ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), senior office-bearers at the national, state and district levels, among others, have been formed for the purpose, the party leaders said.

"From today, the state BJP began the process of interacting with party workers invited here for allocation of tickets. Workers gathered today to give their opinion for Dholka, Dhandhuka and Daskroi Assembly seats in Ahmedabad district. The observers appointed by the state BJP will hear the workers one by one as their turn comes," BJP's Ahmedabad district president Harshad Giri told reporters.

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Jamnagar city BJP president Vimal Kagathara said as per the process followed by the BJP, a panel of three observers will complete the task of taking the opinion of party workers for the two seats of Jamnagar. Like the last election, the BJP will win both the seats in Jamnagar through micro planning, he said.

Party workers gathered in large numbers to meet the observers, with some of them expressing willingness to contest the elections.

Vadodara Mayor Keyur Rokadia said the collection of feedback by observers is a smooth democratic process carried out by the BJP.

"As part of this, three observers are visiting here. They will interact with party workers from different Assembly segments and collect their feedback. They will also get a sense of the political situation at the ward level, so that the process of selection of candidates is carried out smoothly. I am here as part of the same," Rokadia told reporters.

A corporator from Vadodara said, "I am here to claim my candidature on the basis of my capability. I am connected to the people of the locality through my social work, and have won the civic body polls. Whoever is the candidate, we will win all the seats in Vadodara."

Ministers Jagdish Panchal, Brijesh Merja, Manisha Vakil, Harsh Sanghavi, former ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Atmaram Parmar, Ganpat Vasava, MPs Ranjan Bhatt, Geeta Rathwa, Bharti Shiyal, among others, are part of the teams of observers.

After collecting the data, these 38 teams will submit the names of ticket seekers to the party's state leadership, who will then shortlist and make a panel of three names each for every seat and send it to the central parliamentary board of the party. The parliamentary board will then clear the names, sources in the party said.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 99 seats, while the Congress had bagged 77 seats.

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