Lok Sabha elections: Home Minister Amit Shah files nomination from Gujarat's Gandhinagar

Hoping for a re-election from Gandhinagar, Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday filed his nomination papers for the 18th Lok Sabha polls in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Shah submitted the nomination papers to the Gandhinagar collector and district election officer in the state capital exactly at 12.39 pm, considered as ‘Vijay Muhurat'.

"Today I have filed my nomination from the Gandhinagar seat. It is a matter of pride for me that this seat was represented by LK Advani, Atal ji and the seat where Narendra Modi himself is a voter. I have been an MLA, MP from this seat for 30 years. The people of this region have given me immense love..." said the Home Minister after filing his nomination.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, the former BJP president was declared a winner from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 5.57 lakh votes against his nearest Congress rival C J Chavda. Shah polled 8.94 lakh votes, while Chavda secured 3.37 lakh votes.


The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency consists of seven assembly segments -- Gandhinagar North, Kalol, Sanand, Ghatlodia, Vejalpur, Naranpura and Sabarmati. All these assembly seats are with the BJP.

The former BJP president won from Gandhinagar in 2019 by a margin of more than 5 lakh votes. In the past, the seat had been represented by BJP veteran and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

The opposition Congress has fielded party secretary Sonal Patel from Gandhinagar. Patel filed her nomination papers on Tuesday.

Voting for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will take place in a single phase on May 7.

On Friday, the 2024 Lok Sabha polls started with voting for 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a rare third term in office. Over 16.63 crore people are eligible to vote on Friday.

India has nearly 97 crore registered voters for elections to the 543-member Lok Sabha, with BJP's ambition to emerge as a force challenging the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu and determination to retain its strongholds across the country set to be put to a stern test and the opposition INDIA bloc facing a herculean task to dislodge the BJP-led NDA.