BJP declares candidate list for municipal corporation polls

Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday evening declared a list of candidates for the upcoming local body election of six municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar.

While senior party leaders faced criticism in a few centres, members expecting to contest polls this year promptly resigned from the party on not finding their names in the list.

Former district panchayat member of Bharuch Vijay Patel resigned from the party.

In Ahmedabad, the party has chosen to grant tickets to more than a dozen incumbent councilors.

Moreover, tickets have been given to relatives of current postholders as well despite BJP state unit president CR Patil’s contention that the party would not do so this time.

Jasu Thakor, the nephew of former Ahmedabad mayor Kanaji Thakor, who is on the BJP’s parliamentary board, has been named in the candidate list as a nominee from the Shahibaug ward.

Similarly, the daughter of former deputy mayor Kalpana Bhatt’s daughter Vaishali Joshi has also received a ticket from the Naroda ward. 

The list also includes the niece of former state cabinet minister Fakir Waghela from Kubernagar ward and the son of former councillor Atul Patel, who defected from Congress.

In Jamnagar, 64 names were declared for 16 wards of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC).

It included the names of 18 councillors who will receive the opportunity to serve another term, if they win.

Meanwhile, allegations of nepotism by the party have been flying around after tickets were granted to 10 candidates related to party postholders.

In Surat, numerous contenders fought to receive a BJP ticket for the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) polls.

The party announced 119 names, instead of the expected 120 names, for 30 wards. Nirav Shah, a three-time councillor of ward 11, was protested against by the Jain community and activists even before he was given a ticket for a possible fourth term.

In all, the party has fielded new candidates in 14 out of the total 30 wards of the local civic body. (First India Bureau)