Gujarat Election 2017: Gujarat BJP announces 36 more candidates; 11 MLAs dropped

A day after announcing candidates for 70 seats for the upcoming Gujarat elections, the BJP announced its second list of 36 candidates late on Saturday. The BJP has dropped as many as 11 sitting legislators, including two ministers, while repeating only seven MLAs. The list of candidates include home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja, who has been renominated from Vatva constituency, water resources minister Babu Bokhiria (Porbandar seat), Ahmedabad BJP president Jagdish Panchal (Nikol), and Bhushan Bhatt (Jamalpur-Khadia).

Even as the BJP had dropped only two sitting MLAs in the first list of 70, the axe fell on as many as 11 in the second list of 36 candidates. The dropped MLAs, include women and child development minister Nirmala Wadhwani, who represents Naroda seat in the assembly. The BJP has given tickets to over two dozen new faces, which is seen as a move to curb anti-incumbency.

As in the first list, there are only four women in the list of 36. Unlike in the first list, the second one has a better balance of caste equations. There are five candidates each from general category, Patels and Kshatriyas, and seven OBCs. There are 12 tribal candidates and two from Scheduled Castes.