After chaos,BJP unites,discord stares at Congress in Vadodara

Officials in the district administration said the final list of the parties and candidates would be ready probably by the midnight. Skirmish took place at the election offices when candidates from different parties came face to face during filing of the nomination forms.

At least five Congress leaders and about 10 BJP members — who are either councillors or members — have filed their nominations as an independent candidates or have joined the rival parties as they were denied tickets.

BJP President Bharat Dangar said: “With the declaration of the final list of candidates,we are confident that we would be gaining more seats in the elections. The kind of candidates we have selected would certainly make a big difference.” On the other hand,Congress president Suresh Patel took police’s help to shield himself from disgruntled aspirants,who were denied tickets.

“It seems Congress has ‘fixed’ the elections even before contesting one. The candidates chosen are totally strangers and and many of them are not even from the ward where they would be contesting. A loyal and hardworking candidate like Narendra Ravat is once again cheated. It seems they have dropped candidates who have lost the election more than twice. But the facvourites have got the ticket. We have never seen such a poor state of affairs in the history of Congress,” said a senior Congress member while requesting.

Nafisa Kapadia,former councilor of Ward 17,was also at the receiving end as she was denied the ticket. “I have decided to contest alone and I have filled up the nominations,” she said.

Party officials,however,maintained that even if Kapadia goes alone,it would not make any difference to the party. “There are around 14,000 muslims in Ward 17 and even if the votes are divided it would fetch not less than 5,000 votes to each candidates including the independent candidate,” said a party insider.

Youth Congress leaders complained that though the party leadership had shown them rosy dreams,only two of them — Jaha Desai and Lalita Shah were given the ticket and some deserving candidates were dropped.

“The senior party leaders have made fun of the efforts made by Rahul Gandhi to give equal chance to the youngsters. The youngsters in Vadodara are dumped for no reason,” said a Youth Congress member who was denied the ticket.