LJP announces 17 candidates for polls

The Lok Janshakti Party on Saturday announced names of its candidates on 17 assembly constituencies for upcoming Gujarat assembly elections. The names of the candidates were announced by LJP president Ramvilas Paswan when he visited the city on Saturday.

Speaking to the media, Paswan said that this time, the party has decided to contest on the 182 assembly seats independently. He said that they had identified some of the key issues in Gujarat and that LJP’s manifesto would revolve around these issues.

“There are five points—social justice, secularism, issues of farmers, development and unemployment. Gujarat is the state where dalits continue to be suppressed. If farmers are committing suicide in Maharashtra, their counterparts in Gujarat too are being forced to take the extreme step. Our party wants to work for them,” he said.

He added that the party is yet to decide candidates from all the constituencies, but they would consider loyalists rather than those coming from other parties. The party is likely to announce earlier the names for constituencies that will go to polls in the first phase, he said.