For Gujarat bypolls, BJP gives tickets to 2 ex-Congressmen

The BJP has also given ticket to Daval Singh Zala, also a former Congress MLA, it’s ticket time contest the bye election from Bayad.

The BJP on Sunday fielded former Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor in the byeelection to Radhanpur assembly segment of Gujarat. The BJP has also given ticket to Daval Singh Zala, another former Congress MLA, to contest the byeelection from Bayad.

The BJP on Sunday fielded former Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor in the by-election to Radhanpur assembly segment of Gujarat.(Alpesh Thakor/Twitter)

Both Thakor and Zala had quit as MLAs on July 5, just ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat. They joined the BJP in the same month, apparently after voting against Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls.

BJP working President JP Nadda late on Sunday night released six names for Gujarat bypolls. Earlier in the day, the party released 32 names from 13 states for state bypolls.

Thakor had been vocal about his differences with the Congress and he quit the party before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May.

A prominent OBC leader and a former MLA from Radhanpur in Gujarat’s Patan district, Alpesh Thakor had said that he was “ignored and insulted” in the Congress.

Thakor’s name was okayed by the central election committee of BJP on Sunday that was attended by PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

The Congress announced its candidates for the byelections to four Assembly Constituencies in Gujarat.

The party has fielded Gulabsinh Pirabhai Rajput from Tharad, Patel Jasubhai Shivabhai from Bayad, Dharmendrabhai Shantilal Patel from Amraiwadi, Chauhan Gulabsinh Somsinh from Lunawada.

The byelections will be held in Gujarat on October 21 while the counting of votes will take place on September 24.

Bypolls for one Lok Sabha and 64 other assembly constituencies across 18 states of the country are also being held along with the Maharashtra and Haryana elections on October 21.