Gujarat elections 2017 | 249 candidates left for 21 seats in Ahmedabad

With close to 100 candidates withdrawing their nominations, 249 candidates are left in the fray from the 21 assembly seats in Ahmedabad on Thursday, the last day for withdrawals, officials said.

At 22, Viramgam seat has the highest number of contesting candidates, after 12 nominations were withdrawn. BJP has fielded former Congress MLA Tejshree Patel from the seat. Vatva, Bapunagar and Dhandhuka seats, all three held by BJP, have 16 candidates each in the fray. Danilimda (SC), from where Congress's Shailesh Parmar is seeking re-election, has just six candidates in the fray, the lowest among all seats. The two BJP strongholds of Maninagar and Ellisbridge have seven and eight contesting candidates respectively.

Sanand and Nikol seats have 14 candidates left in the fray, while Ghatlodia and Dholka seats will see a contest between 13 candidates. Congress had won Sanand seat in 2012, while BJP had won the remaining three.

Exactly one dozen candidates are contesting from Vejalpur, and 11 each from Amraiwadi, Dariapur and Sabarmati assembly segments. Barring Dariapur, BJP had won all the seats in the last elections, and has repeated the sitting MLAs.