Gujarat Elections: Congress Launches Poll Manifesto; AAP Announces Candidates for 3 More Seats

The Congress launches its poll manifesto for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly Elections. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot unveiled the manifesto in Ahmedabad with 11 commitments which include waiving the farmers’ loan up to Rs 3 lakh and implementing the Old Pension Scheme in the state..

Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and former deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, who have not been fielded as candidates by the BJP in the assembly polls, are on the list of the party’s star campaigners who include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders.

Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, chief ministers Bhupendra Patel (Gujarat), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), and the party’s national president J P Nadda are among the 40 star campaigners for the polls. The lists, submitted to the Election Commission, also includes many other Union ministers and state party leaders.

Meanwhile, Congress released the third list of seven candidates for the polls. With this, the party has announced names of 96 candidates so far in the state.

Voting to elect a new 182-member Assembly will be held on December 1 (covering 89 seats) and December 5 (covering 93 constituencies). Counting of votes will take place on December 8.

Here are updates from Gujarat ahead of assembly polls 2022:

• Congress releases 4th list of 9 candidates for Gujarat Assembly polls.

• AAP releases the 15th list of 3 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections. The party has fielded Mahindra Rajput from Sidhpur, Lalji Parmar from Sidhpur and Mahendra Patil from Udhana.
• Congress Poll Promises For Gujarat
  The Congress party released the election manifesto for the Gujarat Assembly elections with 11 commitments which include waiving the farmers’ loan up to Rs 3 lakh and implementing the Old Pension Scheme in the state. “As Rahul Gandhi told us that people should be asked what should be there in the manifesto, they have been asked and over six lakhs people have come forward for this," Gehlot said.
• BJP Second List of CandidatesThe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced candidates for six more seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections. With this, the ruling party has announced the names of candidates for all 89 seats, out of the total 182, that will go to polls in the first phase of the two-phase elections. Overall, the BJP has so far named candidates for 166 Assembly segments as it had issued the first list of 160 candidates on November 9.

• Congress Launches Poll ManifestoCongress launched its poll manifesto. Congress includes poll promise to provide 10 lakh jobs in its manifesto if the government is formed.
   
• BJP announces second List of 6 candidatesBJP announced its second list of 6 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly Polls. The list includes candidates for Dhoraji, Khambhalia among other constituencies.
• The Congress has announced names of 96 candidates so far as against 160 nominees declared by the BJP and 174 by the AAP.The Congress on Friday night released a third list of seven candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, in which it has fielded its former MLA Indranil Rajguru who recently returned to the party fold after quitting the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). With this, the party has announced names of 96 candidates so far in the state, which has a 182-member Assembly. The Congress has allotted three seats to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as part of a pre-poll alliance.
• Rajguru vs Rupani for Rajkot East BattleThe main opposition party has fielded Rajguru from Rajkot East from where he had won in 2012 before quitting to contest from Rajkot West in 2017 against the then-Chief Minister Vijay Rupani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He joined the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP after quitting the Congress in April this year, only to return to the principal opposition party, saying it was the best option for defeating the BJP in Gujarat.
• BJP’s Star Campaigners for Gujarat PollsUnion ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, chief ministers Bhupendra Patel (Gujarat), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam) and Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), and the party’s national president J P Nadda are among the 40 star campaigners for the polls. The lists, submitted to the Election Commission, also includes many other Union ministers and state party leaders. With the EC capping the expenditure by candidates during the campaign, rules allow the expenses incurred on the stump by these star campaigners to be borne by their party and not the local contestants.
• Gujarat AAP Chief Italia to Contest from Katargam Assembly Seat; Kejriwal Stresses on Participation of Youth in PoliticsAam Aadmi Party’s Gujarat unit president Gopal Italia will contest the upcoming state Assembly election from Katargam in Surat district, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday while stressing on the participation of youth in politics. AAP’s Gujarat general secretary Manoj Sorathiya will contest from Karanj Assembly seat in Surat, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal said in a tweet. The AAP has so far announced the names of its 158 candidates for elections to the 182-member Gujarat Assembly which will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5.
• 700 Companies of Central Armed Forces to be Deployed for Gujarat Polls In an unprecedented move, nearly 700 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), comprising 70,000 personnel, will be deployed for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls, top government sources said. These forces will include over 150 companies each from Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and other CAPFs.
• With 48 Seats, Saurashtra Region Holds Key to Power in Gujarat; Close Contest on CardsGujarat’s Saurashtra region, which accounts for 48 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in the state with a sizable Patidar and Other Backward Class (OBC) population, has the potential to tilt the power game in favour of or against the ruling BJP or opposition Congress in the next month’s elections. READ MORE
• Record Cash, Liquor, Freebies Seized in Poll-bound Gujarat: Election CommissionNearly 11 lakh litres of liquor, freebies worth Rs 65 crore and Rs 17.84 crore in cash meant to induce voters have been seized from poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the Election Commission (EC) has said, describing it as a “record".The EC said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has also reported “massive seizures" amounting to Rs 64 crore of toys and accessories that were being smuggled by way of “mis-declaration and resorting to concealment in the import cargo" at the Mundra port. Gujarat witnessed seizures of Rs 71.88 crore in just a few days after the election was announced, which surpassed the seizures made during the entire duration of the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct during the 2017 Assembly polls, which amounted to Rs 27.21 crore.
• CNN-News18 Exclusive | BJP Gujarat Chief CR Patil Interview

• Gujarat Election: BJP Drops 38 Sitting MLAs, Bets on Younger & Newer Faces to Beat Anti-IncumbencyFaced with the prospect of anti-incumbency in upcoming Gujarat elections, the ruling BJP has denied tickets to as many as 38 sitting MLAs, picking 69 of the incumbent lawmakers in its first list of candidates.

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