Gujarat elections: 1,621 candidates now left in the fray

A total of 1,621 candidates are left in the fray after the deadline for the withdrawal of nominations in the Gujarat elections got over.

The last day of withdrawal for the second and final phase was Monday. Elections to the 182-member Assembly would be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.

As many as 788 candidates are in the fray for 89 seats that will go to the polls in the first phase of elections. For the 93 seats where elections would be held in the second phase, there are 833 candidates in the fray, PTI reported quoting a release from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer.


The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded candidates on all 182 seats. The Congress has fielded candidates on 179 seats while it allocated three seats to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as part of a pre-poll alliance. One of the NCP candidates has withdrawn his nomination.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also fielded candidates on all 182 seats, but its candidates withdrew his nomination from the Surat East seat, so it will end up contesting 181 seats.

Asaduddin Owaisi's All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) fielded candidates in 14 Assembly seats but its candidates withdrew from Bapunagar seat.

Constituencies in the districts of Saurashtra-Kutch region and south Gujarat will go to the polls in the first phase. These districts are Valsad, Tapi, Dang, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Narmada, Botad, Bhavnagar, Amreli, Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Morbi, Surendranagar and Kutch.

In the second phase, seats in the districts of central and north Gujarat, that is, Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Aravalli, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Kheda, Mahisagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Vadodara and Chhota Udepur will go to the polls. Counting of votes for both the phases will be held on December 8.