Gujarat Polls: BJP and Congress Play Safe While Issuing Tickets

After 2 years of intense political upheaval, the parties want to play safe and have repeated most of the candidates.

Gujarat Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on 9 December and 14 December.

(Photo: The Quint)

The BJP and the Congress have made their intentions clear through its list of candidates declared so far. After two years of intense political upheaval, the bigwigs want to play safe and have repeated most of their candidates and MLAs from the 2012 polls. The BJP has repeated 148 candidates and have dropped 34 names as compared to 60 names in 2012. The Congress on the other hand has repeated 60 candidates including 39 sitting MLAs for the upcoming polls.

The recent strife for tickets has benefited the OBCs more than the Patidars, in both the parties. Meanwhile the BJP has not fielded even a single Muslim Candidate, whereas the Congress has issued tickets to six.

Those Who Didn’t Make the Cut

The BJP dropped sitting MLA from Naroda and Women and Child Development Minister Nirmala Wadhwani, Jetha Solanki from Kodinar, Ramesh Maheshwari from Gandhidham, Shamji Chauhan from Chotila, Mohan Kundaria from Tankara, Ranjit Gilitwala from Surat East and Mangu Patel from Gandevi.

The Congress dropped MLA Joita Patel from Dhanera constituency, Dharsi Khanpara from Kankrej, MLA Natwarsinh Thakor from Mahudha (his son Indrajit got the ticket) and Mitesh Garasia from Jhalod. Meanwhile, Nathabhai Patel has been fielded from Dhanera, Dinesh Zalera from Kankrej and Bhavesh Katara from Jhalod.

Apart from these names a whole host of big names have been sidelined by both the parties for the upcoming elections.

Sidelined Favourites

These include Ahmedabad Mayor Gautam Shah, former deputy CM Narhari Amin, and Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Jagruti Pandya from the BJP. Jagruti Pandya is the wife of late BJP leader Haren Pandya who was murdered in broad daylight on 26 March 2003. BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya, youth wing leader Rutvij Patel and Vadodara Mayor Bharat Dangar did not get tickets either.

Congress leaders Naresh Rawal, Nishit Vyas, Sabbir Kabliwala, Himanshu Patel, Dinesh Sharma, and Jairajsinh Parmar were dropped by the party for the upcoming elections. Dinesh Sharma was seeking the Bapunagar ticket in Ahmedabad; however, the Congress chose Himmatsinh Patel who has lost two Assembly elections and one Lok Sabha election so far.

Vaghela, the Kingmaker?

Shankersinh Vaghela’s Jan Vikalp Morcha (JVM) in alliance with the Jan Vikalp Party (JVP) and All Indian Hindustan Congress Party (AIHCP), issued tickets to 65 candidates for the second phase of Assembly elections, on Monday.

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela.(Photo courtesy: Facebook/Shankersinh Vaghela)

Seventy four tickets have already been issued for the first phase of polling. Shankersinh Vaghela who was part of the Congress until recently is dubbed to be the king-maker in the upcoming elections, provided his new party dents the prospects of the incumbent BJP and his former Congress party.

Caste Curry

As far as caste equations are concerned, the OBCs were the clear winners as they took 57 BJP tickets and 65 Congress tickets home. In the 2012 polls, the BJP had fielded 47 OBC candidates whereas the Congress had only fielded 57.

The BJP and the Congress have more or less given the same number of tickets to Paridars as 2012. The BJP has issued tickets to 53 Patidars whereas the Congress has issued tickets to 47.

Jains and Brahmins have been thinly represented by both the parties in this elections. The BJP has issued no ticket to any Muslim candidate, whereas the Congress has issued tickets to six.