April 26 local body polls: BJP fields over a dozen leaders’ kin in 4 major Gujarat cities, party says they are already in politics

Krunal is son of former corporator Pravin Patel whereas Pavan is son of Purushottam Hemnani, another former corporator.

Shrirang Ayare, a corporator in the outgoing elected body of the VMC, is son of former Corporator Rajesh Ayare. Dikshita is daughter-in-law of former corporator Kanchan Ray. Nidhi’s parents Nitin Patel and Jyoti Patel have both been corporators of the VMC.

Upendra Prajapati, BJP candidate from Ward No. 11, is the son of former Congress Mayor Dalsukh Prajapati, who had joined the BJP in 2018.

Ahmedabad-3

Pareshkumar Lalji Anand, son of former mayor and former chief of BJP’s city unit Lalji Parmar has been fielded from Khadia ward in Ahmedabad. Lalji Parmar was Ahmedabad Mayor from 1997 to 1998.

A young first timer, Kranti Koumil Gandhi, niece of former MLA Bhushan Bhatt, has been fielded by the BJP from Paldi ward. Bhushan Bhatt was BJP MLA from Jamalpur Khadia constituency in Ahmedabad from 2012-17 but lost in 2017. His father late Ashok Bhatt was Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly who got elected a record eight times from the same constituency of Khadia.

Another BJP candidate who has been repeated is Maulik Gautam Patel from Isanpur ward. A Leuva Patidar, Maulik is son of Gautam Patel, a two term BJP councillor from Isanpur ward and former chairman of Town Planning Committee of the AMC. After Gautam Patel’s demise due to heart attack in 2021, Maulik was elected from the ward within six months.

Rajkot-2

In Rajkot, at least two candidates who are relatives of former corporators of the party have been nominated by the BJP for the elections of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC). The RMC has 18 wards with 72 posts of corporators.
From Ward No. 1 of the RMC, the BJP has nominated Anjana Morzariya, wife of Alpesh who was BJP corporator in the outgoing elected body of the RMC.

The other BJP candidate having dynastic roots is Nehal Shukla who has been nominated by the party from Ward No. 7 of the RMC.

Nehal is son of veteran Jan Sangh leader from Rajkot late Chimanbhai Shukla and brother of senior party leader and former councilor Kashyap Shukla. Notably, Nehal’s name had come up as BJP candidate for Ward No. 7 as a last minute change. In the list of candidates for the 72 post of corporators for the RMC declared by the party on Friday, his name was not there. However, at the last minute before filing of the nomination, Shailesh Jani, who was declared BJP candidate, was replaced by Nehal. In fact, Jani had reached the district Collector’s office to file his nomination papers when he came to know that he was replaced by Nehal, who eventually filed his nomination papers as the BJP candidate.

When asked about the nomination of the two ‘dynast’ candidates, a senior party office bearer from Rajkot said, “Both Anjanaben and Nehalbhai have got elected as corporators earlier as well. They are nominated on their merits.”

Surat-4

In Surat, at least four candidates nominated by the BJP for the elections of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) are relatives of current or former office bearers of the party.

Satish Maisurya has been nominated from Ward No. 14. In the outgoing elected body of the SMC, Maisurya’s wife Rajshree was BJP corporator from the same ward.

From Ward No. 29, Suhani Yadav has been fielded by the party. In the previous elected body of SMC, Suhani’s father-in-law Banshu Yadav was BJP corporator from the same ward.Kamini Patel, wife of Surat BJP media convenor Soham Patel, has been fielded by the party from Ward No. 28.

In another instance, Anjali Upadhyay has been nominated by the party from Ward No. 27. Anjali’s husband, Subham Upadhyay, is an elected member of the Surat Municipal Education Board.

When contacted over the selection of candidates who are relatives of party leaders, Gujarat BJP spokesperson Anil Patel said, “They (such candidates who are relatives of party leaders) are those candidates who are active in politics for a long time. If a leader gets tickets for his sons who are doctors and not active in politics, then it could be called nepotism because none of them are active in the political field.”

“Those (candidates who are relatives of party leaders and) who are politically active for a long time, we do not consider it as nepotism,” he added.