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Gujarat by-poll: Congress declares ex-MLA Gulabsinh Rajput as its candidate for Vav constituency, BJP fields Swarupji Thakor

This by-poll will be crucial for the Congress which lost its position as leader of Opposition in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Rajput, who has been an MLA from the Tharad seat in Banaskantha district — where Vav is also located — will be the candidate for the INDIA Bloc since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is not putting up a candidate.Rajput, who has been an MLA from the Tharad seat in Banaskantha district — where Vav is also located — will be the candidate for the INDIA Bloc since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is not putting up a candidate.

The Congress declared former MLA Gulabsinh Rajput as its candidate for Gujarat’s Vav by-election which will be held on November 13.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal announced the decision in a statement. Rajput, who has been an MLA from the Tharad seat in Banaskantha district — where Vav is also located — will be the candidate for the INDIA Bloc since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is not putting up a candidate.

Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Swarupji Thakor as its candidate. Thakor is an old BJP member from Banaskantha who fought against Congress candidate Geniben Thakor in the 2022 Assembly elections from the Vav constituency. Thakor, however, had lost to Geniben by a margin of 15,601 votes.

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The by-election will be crucial for the Congress which lost its position as leader of Opposition in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections, winning only 17 of 182 seats it contested along with ally AAP in its worst performance in the state.

The Vav seat of Banaskantha was vacated by Geniben Thakor who won in this year’s Lok Sabha elections to become the only Congress candidate from Gujarat to emerge victorious. She had won against the BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary by over 30,000 votes.

Rajput is a Kshatriya, and he will be contesting a seat seen as dominated by the Thakors, both being OBC candidates — a category that comprises more than 18% of the constituency’s votes. Rajput had won the assembly election to the Tharad constituency in 2019, serving one term.

The last day for filing nominations is today. The BJP is expected to announce its candidate soon.

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