Amit Shah Chairs BJP's Parliamentary Meet In Gujarat As EC Announces Schedule For Polls

As the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, BJP on Thursday, November 3, held its parliamentary meeting in the state capital Gandhinagar. According to the sources, the meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah discussed the strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Union minister Bhupendra Yadav was also present at the meeting. 

According to sources, the constituencies namely Aravalli, Sabarkatha, Mahisagar, Banaskatha, Surendranagar, Porbandar, Dang, Valsad, Tapi, Narmada, Morbi, Rajkot (rural), Rajkot (city) were majorly discussed during the meeting.

Reportedly, Morbi was discussed at length in the meeting due to the recent bridge collapse tragedy that claimed the lives of at least 135 people in the state. Besides this, the meeting also discussed the work done by local MLAs and state ministers in Gujarat. Importantly, the names of the candidates for the coming polls were also discussed. 

Gujarat Assembly poll dates announced

Meanwhile, the ECI on Thursday announced the dates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. Notably, the term of the Gujarat Assembly ends on February 18, 2023. Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commission Rajiv Kumar announced that Gujarat will go to polls in two phases on December 1 and December 5.  

As announced by the ECI, the polling for 89 seats will take place on December 1, while the election for the remaining 93 seats will be held on December 5. The counting of votes will take place on December 8, the same day as Himachal Pradesh.

Political scenario in Gujarat

Gujarat has always proved to be an impregnable fortress for BJP as it has been winning the Assembly polls in the state since 1995. In the 2017 election, there was a nail-biting contest between the BJP and Congress which was bolstered by the fiery campaign of Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thakor. 

BJP emerged victorious winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly whereas the grand old party bagged an impressive 77 seats. In an unforeseen development on September 11, 2021, Vijay Rupani tendered his resignation as the Chief Minister of Gujarat without giving any specific reason. He was then replaced by Bhupendra Patel.