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At 31, the Surendranagar Lok Sabha constituency has the highest number of candidates for a seat in Gujarat with at least two of them seen as having potential to eat into the votes of main rivals Congress and the BJP.
The constituency in the Saurashtra region, a Koli community-dominated seat won by the BJP in 2014, has as many as 25 independents in the fray. Despite so many candidates in the fray, the main fight is likely to be between the BJP and the Congress, the parties which dominate the politician scene in Gujarat.
The saffron outfit has dropped its sitting MP from here Devji Fatehpara and given ticket to Mahendra Munjpara, while the Congress has fielded Somabhai Patel, who had lost in 2014.
Mer was with the BJP till November last year and later joined the Congress, from where he was hoping for a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections. When the party decided to renominate Patel, a three- time MP, Mer entered the fray as an independent.
"My fight is against both the Congress and BJP, as none of the two parties worked for the development of the people of Surendranagar," said the former Dhandhuka MLA who had faced defeat in the 2017 Assembly elections.
Lalji Mer and Somabhai Patel belong to the same Tarbada Koli sub- caste and this may lead to division of their community's votes, thus harming the prospects of the latter. Munjpara belongs to the Thakor Koli sub-caste.
On the other hand, Dekavadiya, the candidate of Togadia's party, has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, for over 25 years.
The fledging party is contesting on two principal issues - Ram temple and cow protection.
"I am getting positive response in villages across the district with a network of former VHP members here supporting our party supremo Togadia and my candidature," Dekavadiya, a former chairman of Sursagar Dairy, or Surendranagar District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, said.
However, both BJP and the Congress claimed the candidature of Dekavadiya and Mer posed no threat to their respective electoral prospects.
District BJP media in-charge Harshad Gandhi played down the threat from Dekavadiya, saying he is not a known face in the region. "He is not a known figure and it is an exaggeration to say he can take away significant number of votes," he said.
While Surendranagar has the highest number of candidates in the fray at 31, the Panchmahal Lok Sabha seat has the lowest nominees at six. Jamnagar has the second highest number of candidates at 28 and Ahmedabad (East) third highest at 26.
Voting for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will take place in a single phase on April 23.
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