The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) unveiled its initial roster of 243 candidates on Sunday for the local body elections set for April 26 in the state. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have yet to disclose their candidate lists.
These elections will encompass 15 municipal corporations, 84 municipalities, 34 zilla panchayats, and 260 taluka panchayats across Gujarat, with results scheduled to be announced on April 28.
The candidate list features individuals vying for positions in prominent municipal corporations including Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Morbi, Jamnagar, and Bhavnagar.
The Congress party emphasized that it has selected individuals who are well-established and actively engaged at the grassroots level for various wards within the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Among the candidates, four current councilors—Shehzad Khan Pathan, Nirav Baxi, Jagdish Rathod, and Rajshree Kesari—will be contesting from their existing wards.
Pathan, previously serving as the Leader of Opposition in the AMC, is set to run from the Danilimda ward. Senior Congress figure Rajshreeben Kesari will represent Chandkheda, while deputy leader of opposition Nirav Bakshi will stand for Dariyapur. Additionally, Jagdish Rathod, the Congress whip in the AMC, will contest from Amraiwadi.
Omprakash Tiwari, who recently transitioned to Congress from the AAP, has secured a ticket for the Sardarnagar ward.
According to party insiders, approximately 1,000 applications for party nominations were submitted from the city of Ahmedabad alone. The AMC has a total of 192 seats across 48 wards. The Congress party began its candidate selection process early, having concluded the form collection last month. A subsequent list of candidates is anticipated to be released around April 7 or 8.
In total, elections will be held for 1,004 seats across the 15 municipal corporations. The deadline for filing nominations is set for April 11, with nomination papers to be scrutinized on April 13. Candidates will have the opportunity to withdraw their nominations until April 15.
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