AAP releases 4th list of 12 candidates for Gujarat Assembly polls; 41 seats covered so far

The AAP, which rules Punjab and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, has positioned itself as the main challenger to the BJP, which is in power in Gujarat for nearly three decades now

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on October 10 released its fourth list of 12 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, giving tickets to people from a cross-section of society, including teachers, businesspersons and tribals.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led party had earlier announced 29 candidates for the year-end Assembly polls in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled State. With the latest list, the Delhi-headquartered party, which seeks to contest on all the 182 Assembly seats in Gujarat, has so far announced 41 candidates.

The fourth list of candidates covers 12 seats, two of which are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) — Garbada and Gandevi. Two out of these 12 seats were won by the Congress in 2017, while 10 were bagged by the BJP.

Two of these dozen seats — Amraiwadi and Vatva — are in Ahmedabad city, while one — Limbayat — is in Surat city.

Among the candidates in the latest list are teachers, businessmen and social workers, Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia said.

The candidate list includes Nirmalsinh Parmar for Himatnagar seat, who is a retired teacher, while Doulat Patel for Gandhinagar (South) is a businessman. Kuldeep Vaghela (Sanand seat) is an industrialist, Bipil Patel (Vatva) runs a garments shop and Bharat Patel (Amraiwadi) is an AAP worker who has contested corporation election in the past, Mr. Italia told reporters.

Among other candidates, Ramjibhai Chudasama (Keshod) is a leader from the Koli community who was in the past associated with the Congress.