LS polls: With 6 more names, BJP declares candidates for Gujarat's 26 seats

The ruling BJP announced the names of six candidates for Lok Sabha polls from Gujarat, including new faces for Vadodara and Sabarkantha where the party nominees earlier withdrew from the fray.

With this, the party has announced the names of candidates for all 26 constituencies where elections are scheduled to be held in a single phase on May 7. In its latest list of six candidates released late Sunday night, the party dropped five sitting MPs, including Minister of State for AYUSH and Child Development Mahendra Munjpara from Surendranagar. On Vadodara and Sabarkantha seats, BJP had nominated sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt and Bhikhaji Thakor, respectively.

However, on Saturday, two-time MP Bhatt and Thakor withdrew from the fray. The party has replaced Bhatt with Hemang Joshi, while Shobna Baraiya will contest in place of Thakor. Joshi is the vice-chairman of Municipal School Board of Vadodara Municipal Corporation. Baraiya is the wife of former BJP MLA from Prantij. BJP has repeated its Junagadh MP Rajesh Chudasama. This is the third time he will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

In Surendranagar, BJP has dropped Munjpara and given the ticket to Chandu Shihora. He was former president of the Morbi municipality. BJP has given ticket to Hari Patel from Mehsana replacing Sardaben Patel. Hari Patel is from Unjha town and a party worker. For Amreli seat, BJP has replaced its three-term MP Naran Kachhadiya with Bharat Sutariya, who is currently the president of Amreli district panchayat. Congress has so far declared 17 candidates out of 24 seats it is contesting in Gujarat. The party has given two seats, Bharuch and Bhavnagar, to Aam Aadmi Party, its INDIA bloc partner. AAP has announced names for both seats. In 2014 and 2019 general elections, the BJP had won all the 26 seats in the state.