Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: Congress's first list of 77 candidates out

The Congress party finally releases the first of 77 candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat on Sunday.

The announcement came hours after the grand old party and Hardik Patel led-Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) said that they have reached an agreement over the issue of granting reservation to Patels.

Shaktisinh Gohil, the sitting MLA from Abdasa, will contest these polls from the Mandvi constituency in Kutch, while PAAS leader Lalit Vasoya will fight elections in the Dhoraji seat.

Out of the total candidates nominated, 11 belong to the scheduled tribe (ST) category and seven are from the scheduled caste (SC) category.

The Congress list comes with barely two days left to file nominations for the first phase of the election. The delay caused due to an effort to strike the delicate caste balance while doing the quota tight rope and grappling internal factionalism.

The two phase elections in Gujarat will take place on December 9 and 14. The results will be announced along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 18.

The first phase of the polls in Gujarat will cover 89 constituencies in 19 districts while the second phase will cover 93 constituencies spread across 14 districts. The filing of nominations for the polls began on November 14. The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is November 21.

The ruling BJP has so far announced 106 candidates out of total 182 seats, by releasing two lists so far.
OneIndia News