Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal.
Ahmedabad: The possibility of a direct contest between the candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress has increased in the by-election to be held on Vav assembly seat in Banaskantha district of Gujarat. Let us tell you that voting on this seat will be held on 13th November. Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are constituents of the INDI Alliance, an alliance of more than two dozen parties formed at the national level ahead of the general elections held earlier this year. Congress and AAP have taken this decision to give tough competition to BJP in the by-elections.
‘AAP will not make anyone a candidate’
Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said, ‘Since both the parties are part of the INDIA block, we have reached a consensus that the Congress candidate will contest the by-election on Vav seat and APP will not field anyone. ‘ He said the Congress high command is expected to announce the name of one of the panel of three probable candidates shared by the state leadership by Thursday night or Friday morning. According to the notification issued by the Election Commission, candidates can file their nomination papers till 3 pm on Friday.
The seat became vacant after the resignation of Geniben Thakor.
Let us inform that Gujarat AAP spokesperson Karan Barot has also confirmed that his party will not field its candidate for the by-election on Vav seat as per its agreement with Congress. The ruling BJP’s national parliamentary board is also expected to announce its candidate by Thursday night, a Gujarat party leader said. The Election Commission had announced on October 15 that the by-election would be held on November 13 and counting of votes would take place on November 23. The Vav seat had fallen vacant following the resignation of Congress MLA Geniben Thakor after being elected to the Lok Sabha from Banaskantha in June.
Thakor is the only Congress Lok Sabha MP from Gujarat.
Let us tell you that Vav has been a stronghold of Congress, from where Geniben Thakor had won in 2017 and 2022. In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, Thakor, a two-time MLA, defeated BJP’s Rekhaben Chaudhary, who was contesting her first election, by a margin of over 30,000 votes from Banaskantha. She was the only Congress candidate to win in the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. The Congress has 12 MLAs in the 182-seat assembly, while the ruling BJP has 161 MLAs. There are also 4 AAP MLAs, one Samajwadi Party MLA and 2 independent MLAs in the House. (PTI)
