BJP could finalise tickets for Gujarat assembly on Wednesday

“An initial round of the meeting has taken place at the state headquarters in Gandhinagar over three days during which a shortlist of candidates has already been prepared which will be brought for consideration and finalisation to the CEC,” news agency ANI quoted a party source as saying

“Ahead of the meeting of the CEC, the BJP Gujarat core group will also have a separate meeting with JP Nadda and Amit Shah,” It added 

Talking to another source ANI further quoted “Since all the central and state leadership may be present during this meeting. It is also likely that a separate discussion will take place with the top brass on planning the campaigning for the upcoming polls especially with PM Narendra Modi have instructed them to target the highest poll numbers ever.”

BJP has been in power in the state of Gujarat for 27 years. Before becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was the longest-serving Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. Gujarat also holds special relevance for the BJP with it being the Prime Minister’s home state and a defeat in Gujarat could deal a huge blow to the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 

Election Commission announced the schedule for the Gujarat assembly elections on November 3. The elections in the state will be held in two phases on December 1 and December 5. The results of the Gujarat assembly along with the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls will be declared on December 8. 

The voting for 89 seats will be held in the first phase and the voting for 93 seats will be held in the second phase. 

Gujarat has traditionally been a two-party state with the Congress and BJP in contention to form the government but this time Aam Admi Party(AAP) has campaigned aggressively in the state with opinion polls also showing a non-negligible prescence of the party in Gujarat. 

With inputs from ANI