Mohan Delkar’s wife gets BJP ticket; 7 more candidates named in Gujarat

Mohan Delkar (58), a seven-term MP from the seat, was found dead on February 22, 2021, leaving behind a note in which he blamed nine persons for abetting his suicide. Bombay High Court had later quashed a case registered against the nine persons, including Dadra and Nagar Haveli UT Administrator Praful Khoda Patel — a former BJP minister from Gujarat.

In the byelection in September 2021, Kalaben had won by a margin of 51,000 votes, defeating BJP’s Mahesh Gavit.

On February 26, this year, Kalaben was among those to felicitate Union Home Minister Amit Shah, when he was in Silvassa. When contacted, Kalaben’s son Abhinav told The Indian Express, “We were in talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders to get a ticket for my mother, who is the sitting MP from the seat. The top leaders accepted our proposal and gave her the ticket. She will definitely win the election.”

On March 2, in its first list of 195 candidates, the BJP had announced nominees for 15 seats in Gujarat, where the party had swept the polls in 2019. After Wednesday’s list, candidates for only four seats in Gujarat remain to be declared by the party.

In Surat, in place of three-term MP and Union Minister of State for Textiles and Railways, Darshana Jardosh, the party picked Mukesh Dalal, a textile businessman and Surat city party general secretary.

Dalal (57), a former standing committee chairman of Surat Municipal Corporation, said, “Being a local resident, I clearly fitted the BJP criteria.” Dalal, who belongs to the Modhvanik community of OBCs, holds MBA and LLB degrees. He has also been the director of the Surat People’s Co-Operative Bank Limited for the last 20 years.

Besides Jardosh, four other sitting MPs who have been denied tickets are — Dipsinh Rathod from Sabarkantha, K C Patel from Valsad, Bhartiben Shiyal from Bhavnagar and Gita Rathva from Chhota Udepur. The two sitting MPs who were re-nominated are Ranjanben Bhatt from Vadodara and Hasmukh Patel from Ahmedabad East.

From Sabarkantha, the party chose former VHP worker Bhikhaji Thakor – who belongs to Bhiloda and has been a three-time member of the local body – in place of Dipsinh Rathod.

Dhaval Patel, the national social media in charge of BJP ST Morcha, was fielded in place of incumbent two-time MP K C Patel from the tribal reserved seat of Valsad. A writer and tribal activist, Dhaval Patel is a BTech in computer engineering and also has an MBA degree. He is a Dodiya Patel tribal like Congress candidate Anant Patel from the same seat, with both belonging to Vansda in Navsari district.

From Chhota Udepur, the BJP fielded Jashu Rathwa (53), state vice president of BJP ST Morcha, in place of Gita Rathva. Also the former district unit president, Rathwa had contested the 2017 state polls against then Congress candidate and nine-term MLA Mohansinh Rathava, losing by 1,093 votes while polling 45.37 per cent of the vote share.

Rathwa’s daughter-in-law is the president of the Chhota Udepur Taluka Panchayat while his son is a member of BJP’s Yuva Morcha.

The Bhavnagar seat, meanwhile, will be contested by former mayor Nimuben Bambhaniya in place of Bhartiben Shiyal. A teacher and a trustee in the Sadguru Education and Charitable Trust, Bambhaniya has also held positions in the local body and is an OBC from the Koli sub caste.

Of the seven candidates named in the second BJP list, five — Dalal, Thakor, Bambhaniya, Jashu Rathwa and Dhaval Patel — will be contesting Lok Sabha polls for the first time.

With inputs from Aditi Raja