Caste and community considerations play major while choosing candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat. Both the BJP and the Congress have selected candidates belonging to castes who have greater vote share in concerned constituencies. After all, what matters is the number of seats won or lost. And the stakes are as high as they could be. In Gujarat, in 15 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats both BJP and Congress have chosen candidates from the same castes or sub-castes.
For example, Congress candidate Paresh Dhanani, a Leuva Patidar, has been pitted against another Leuva Patidar, Naran Kachhadiya for the Amreli seat. In Mehsana, both BJP and Congress have chosen Kadva Patidar candidates. For the Dahod (ST) seat, the candidates of both the parties are from the Bhil community. In the Koli community dominated Surendranagar seat, candidates of both the BJP and Congress are Kolis.
That’s not all. For the Banaskantha seat, candidates of both the BJP (Parbat Patel) and the Congress (Parthi Bhatol) are from the Anjana Patel sub-caste under the OBC category. In Sabarkantha, both the parties have fielded candidates from the Thakor community. Both BJP and Congress candidates for the Rajkot seat and the Ahmedabad East seat are Kadva Patidars.
Porbandar seat will witness a contest between two Leuva Patidars – Ramesh Dhaduk of the BJP vs Lalit Vasoya of the Congress. In Jamnagar, BJP’s Poonam Maadam will take on Congress’s Mulu Kandoriya. For the Junagadh LS seat, the BJP and Congress have fielded Ghediya Koli candidates. In Panchmahal, BJP’s Ratansinh Rathod, a Bariya Kshatriya will face another Bariya Kshatriya, Congress’ V K Khant, while on the Chhota Udepur (ST) seat, both BJP and Congress have fielded Rathwa community candidates.
Constituency-wise names of candidates
Gandhinagar
Amit Shah -BJP
C J Chavda – Cong
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Ahmedabad West
Kirit Solanki – BJP
Raju Parmar – Cong
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Ahmedabad East
Hasmukh Patel – BJP
Geeta Patel – Cong
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Surat
Darshna Jardosh – BJP
Ashok Patel – Cong
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Vadodara
Ranjan Bhatt – BJP
Prashant Patel – Cong
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Rajkot
Mohan Kundariya – BJP
Lalit Kagathara – Cong
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Banaskantha
Parbat Patel – BJP
Parthi Bhatol – Cong
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Amreli
Naran Kachhadiya – BJP
Paresh Dhanani – Cong
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Jamnagar
Poonam Maadam – BJP
Mulu Kandoriya – Cong
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Bardoli (ST)
Prabhu Vasava – BJP
Tushar Chaudhary – Cong
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Mehsana
Sharda Patel – BJP
A J Patel – Cong
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Anand
Mitesh Patel – BJP
Bharatsinh Solanki – Cong
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Navsari
C R Paatil – BJP
Dharmesh Patel – Cong
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Bharuch
Mansukh Vasava – BJP
Sher Khan Pathan – Cong
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Surendranagar
Dr. Mahendra Munjpara – BJP
Soma Patel – Cong
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Patan
Bharat Dabhi – BJP
Jagdish Thakor – Cong
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Kheda
Devusinh Chauhan – BJP
Bimal Shah – Cong
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Kutch (SC)
Vinod Chavda – BJP
Naresh Maheshwari – Cong
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Sabarkantha
Dipsinh Rathod – BJP
Rajendra Thakor – Cong
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Junagadh
Rajesh Chudasama- BJP
Punja Vansh- Cong
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Bhavnagar
Bharti Shiyal – BJP
Manhar Patel – Cong
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Porbandar
Ramesh Dhaduk – BJP
Lalit Vasoya – Cong
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Panchmahal
Ratansinh Rathod – BJP
V K Khant – Cong
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Dahod (ST)
Jashwantsinh Bhabhor – BJP
Babu Katara – Cong
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Chhota Udepur (ST)
Geeta Rathwa – BJP
Ranjit Rathwa – Cong
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Valsad
K C Patel – BJP
Jitu Chaudhary – Cong
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Candidates for assembly bypolls
Manavadar
Jawahar Chavda – BJP
Arvind Ladani – Cong
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Unjha
Asha Patel – BJP
K M Patel – Cong
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Dharangadhra
Parshottam Sabariya – BJP
Dinesh Patel – Cong
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Jamnagar Rural
Raghavji Patel – BJP
Jayanti Sabhaya – Cong
