Gujarat Assembly election 2022: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced its first list of 160 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections.

The Ghatlodia constituency will be represented by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in the elections. Union Ministers Mansukh Mandviya, Bhupender Yadav, and State BJP chief CR Paatil announced the candidates at a joint press conference.

Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, has been given a ticket to run in the Jamnagar North constituency. Former Congress leader Hardik Patel, who left the party to join the BJP, will run for office in the Viramgam constituency. Harsh Sanghavi, the Gujarat Home Minister, will run in the Majura constituency.

BJP CEC meeting

Notably, the BJP held the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting regarding the Gujarat Assembly election at the party’s headquarters on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where national president JP Nadda, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, and others arrived.

Soon after the meeting, former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and three other ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders announced that they would not run in the state’s upcoming assembly elections to make way for new faces.

Rupani served as Gujarat’s chief minister from August 2016 to September 2021. He is currently an MLA from Rajkot West.

BJP core group meeting

On Tuesday evening, the BJP core group meeting for the Gujarat elections was held at Nadda’s residence.

Gujarat has been a BJP stronghold for decades, and the party is running for a seventh term.

Gujarat will hold elections on December 1 and December 5.

While the Congress seeks to depose the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also working hard to perform well in the polls.