BJP, Congress gearing up for Gujarat by-polls campaign

The ruling BJP as well as opposition Congress are drawing up poll campaign plans for the upcoming by-polls for the nine Assembly and one Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat.

Both BJP and Congress have inaugurated their party offices in Maninagar here, one of the Assembly seats going for polls. This seat was vacated by Narendra Modi as an MLA after he became the Prime Minister.

Gujarat Congress Spokesperson Manish Doshi said, "With this office in Maninagar, Congress has offices in all the 10 constituencies. Though poll campaign is yet to gain momentum, some of our candidates have already started their 'Lok Sampark' (mass contact) meetings in their respective areas." BJP, on the other hand is also set to kick start the poll campaign.

"We have completed our ground work well in advance," said BJP's state media convener Harshad Patel. "It is necessary to put the organizational structure in place before starting the real campaign, which involves public meetings and door-to-door campaign. Our senior leaders have appointed the important functionaries on each seat well in advance. Now, candidates will kick start their campaign," he added.

By polls on nine assembly and one Lok Sabha seat will be conducted on September 13. The Assembly seats where by polls will be held are Anand, Limkheda (Dahod), Deesa (Banaskantha), Matar (Kheda), Maninagar (Ahmedabad), Talaja (Bhavnagar), Tankara (Rajkot), Khambhalia (Jamnagar) and Mangrol (Junagadh).

The Vadodara Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to retain Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. As a sitting MLA, he also vacated Maninagar Assembly seat.