Gujarat will see elections on four of the seven vacant assembly seats in the state on October 21. All the nine seats of the 182-member assembly remain without a representative, two of which are caught in legal tangles.
As per the Election Commission's announcement on Saturday, the last date of filing of nominations is September 30, while counting will be held on October 24. The scrutiny of nomination will take place on October 1 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be October 3. The bypolls in Gujarat are being held simultaneously with similar such polls in 16 other states in the country. The seats are Tharad, Kheralu, Amraiwadi, and Lunawada, all of which fell vacant after the respective MLAs won the Lok Sabha elections.
However, polls have not been announced for Radhanpur and Bayad seats which fell vacant after OBC leader Alpesh Thakor and Dahvalsinh Zala resigned. Both had won the seats on a Congress ticket but resigned from the party after voting in favour of the BJP in Rajya Sabha polls.
Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja said that the polls for the other three seats including Radhanpur will be announced in a day or two. Jadeja made the comment during a meeting of the BJP in connection with the by polls preparations in Radhanpur "The state election commission is soon to send a recommendation for holding the polls in the remaining three seats after finishing some formalities," Jadeja said.
The Gujarat Scene
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| There are nine vacant seats in Gujarat |
| Bayad and Radhanpur for which polls have not been announced fell vacant after Dhavalsinh Zala and Alpesh Thakor quit Congress |
| Morva Hadaf, Dwarka and Talala are vacant due to legal tangles |
The Congress has meanwhile slammed the poll panel for holding bypolls in only 4 of the assembly seats although in all seven are vacant. "Under the immense pressure from BJP, the Election Commission will hold bypolls for 4 assembly seats in Gujarat even though 7 seats are currently vacant in assembly. This is unprecedented, unconstitutional and a blatant attempt by Election Commission to benefit BJP," said GPCC chief Amit Chavda.
Tharad seat fell vacant after MLA and state minister for irrigation and water supply Parbat Patel won from Banaskantha.
In Amraiwadi the then MLA Hasmukh Patel had to resign after he won the Ahmedabad East Lok Sabha seat. Kheralu was represented by Bharatsinh Dabhi who won the Patan Lok Sabha seat, while Lunavada was represented by independent MLA Ratansinh Rathod, who later won the Panchmahals Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket.
State BJP leader Shankar Chaudhary may be given the Tharad seat, while Kheralu will see Ramsinh Dhabi and Ramila Desai as potential candidates. Kamlesh Patel and Pravin Patel are in the race for Amraiwadi. For Lunawada, the names of Jayprakash Patel and Juwansinh Chauhan are doing the rounds.
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