Guj to have single phase poll for 26 Lok Sabha seats on Apr 23

Polls for 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on April 23.

The schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls nationwide was announced Sunday by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in New Delhi.

"We welcome the announcement of dates for the elections. We have been preparing for the elections and now our entire focus will be on it. We will win all 26 seats of the state," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told reporters.

"We will hold meetings at the constituency level for candidate selection. The names will be forwarded to our central parliamentary board after scrutiny by the state parliamentary board," he added.

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil said the election will bring about a "good change" and common people, including youth, farmers, labourers, tribals, backwards and the deprived will be heard.

It will end the five-year rule of those showing-off and indulging in "jumlas" (poll gimmicks), he claimed.

The Congress, in its first list earlier, had announced candidates for four seats.

In the 2014 general elections, BJP had won all 26 seats in the state.