Gujarat polls: BJP suspends seven leaders ahead of polls; deets inside

With just few days remaining for the Gujarat elections, seven leaders have been suspended by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after six of them filed their nominations for the state polls as independent candidates, while one of them was fielded by the Congress, when they were denied party tickets.

All seven leaders are due to contest in the first phase of the Gujarat elections, scheduled to take place on December 1. Two of them - Harshad Vasava, a tribal leader, and Arvind Ladani – are ex-BJP MLAs. They are contesting as independent candidates from the Nandod and Keshod seats respectively

Another BJP leader Chattrasinh Gunjaria who has been suspended, is an elected member of Surendranagar district panchayat. He has been fielded by the Congress from the Dhangadhra seat.

Among other leaders who have been suspended, Ketan Patel is contesting from the Pardi seat in Valsad district; Bharat Chavda from the Rajkot rural seat in the Rajkot district; Uday Shah from Veraval in Gir Somnath and Karan Baraiya from Rajula in the Amreli district.

The BJP has been in power in the state for almost 27 years and is looking for a seventh straight victory. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are fielding themselves as the key challengers even as Kejriwal-led party has been accused of trying to cut into the Congress’ vote base.

In the meantime, the BJP has scaled up its election campaign in Gujarat. On Friday, the party held rallies in 89 constituencies. The state has a total of 182 constituencies.

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