Hardik Patel Appointed as Working President of Gujarat Congress

Gujarat Congress leader Hardik Patel.

(Photo: PTI/Altered by The Quint)

Congress leader Hardik Patel on Saturday, 11 July was appointed as the working president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, a notification issued by the party said.

The appointment was reportedly approved by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

A leader who emerged from the Patidar quota movement in Gujarat, Patel had joined the Congress ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Key accused in the 2015 Mehsna rioting case, Patel could not contest the 2019 elections after the Gujarat High Court refused to stay his conviction citing the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

Patel, however, could not contest the elections following a order that refused to stay his conviction in the 2015 Mehsana rioting case. The provisions of the , barred him from contesting the elections.

The Supreme Court on 28 February had granted anticipatory bail till 6 March to Patel in another case lodged against him in connection with the violence during the Patidar stir in Gujarat in 2015.

The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti under Patel had organised a mega rally in Ahmedabad as part of the stir demanding quota for the community in government jobs, and an FIR was lodged for "unlawful assembly" as the police claimed the event did not have requisite permissions.

In March, Patel was arrested by Ahmedabad police from outside the Morbi district court where he was attending a case hearing for a 2017 case of rioting lodged at Ramol police station.

In all, some 25 cases have been lodged against Hardik in different parts of the state, mostly mostly for holding rallies without police permission.

He is also facing two sedition FIRs at Ahmedabad and Surat.