Gujarat-Himachal Pradesh Assembly Polls 2023: Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, and Congress veteran Ashok Gehlot will embark on a three-day visit to the poll-bound Gujarat from Friday, during which they will address public rallies in different parts of the state for their respective parties. During their visit, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, who is also the AAP’s national convener, and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann are scheduled to address six rallies. Rajasthan Chief Minister Gehlot will also hold six public rallies, party sources said.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday initiated a process to collect feedback from party workers at the local level in Gujarat for selection of candidates for the upcoming state Assembly polls. Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly are due in December, and the state is likely to witness a three-cornered fight – among the BJP, opposition Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – this time.
Beginning Thursday, a three-member team of observers appointed by the BJP for each of 33 districts and five major cities in Gujarat started meeting party workers. The process will go on for three days, during which the teams will take into account the views of the ticket aspirants from every constituency, party members said.
In Himachal Pradesh, where the Election Commission has announced voting date as November 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address BJP’s election rallies from November 5-9, state BJP president Suresh Kashyap said on Thursday.
Here are the latest updates from Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh polls coming up this year:
• The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday released its seventh list of 13 candidates for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, taking the number of nominees whose names the party has declared so far to 86. The list was released by the party’s state unit president Gopal Italia.
• Congress leader Ashok Gehlot will address two rallies at Garbada and Jhalod, both in Dahod district, on Friday. On Saturday, he will address rallies at Navsari in Navsari district of south Gujarat, while on Sunday, he will address three rallies – one each at Danta in Banaskantha district, Khedbrahma in Sabarkantha district, and Bhilod in Aravalli district, the party sources said.
• Kejriwal and Mann will address a public meeting at 12 noon in Morwa Hadaf Assembly seat in Panchmahal district. They will also speak at a rally at Kankerej Assembly seat in Patan district. On Saturday, they will address public rallies at Chikhli in Navsari district and Dediapada in Narmada district, while on Sunday, the duo will speak at public rallies in Gariadhar Assembly seat in Bhavnagar district and Dhoraji in Rajkot district.
• Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday urged the people of Himachal Pradesh to vote the BJP again to power for development to continue in the hilly state. The wheel of development in the state should continue. So it is very important to bring back the BJP government, he said.
• Wary of rebels jumping ship, the Gujarat BJP unit is reportedly considering names of candidates for the upcoming election with caution. The party’s usual practice is to drop up to 30 percent of legislators to include new faces. However, the BJP wants to avoid rebels jumping ship to rival AAP. A party functionary told Hindustan Times that the party will drop around 25 percent of the sitting candidates but the exercise takes into account several factors such as caste equations, cadre feedback and most of all winnability.
• Himachal Pradesh assembly polls 2023 important dates: The last date for the withdrawal of nomination papers for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections is October 29. The voting for the 68-seat Assembly is scheduled to take place on November 12. The counting will take place on December 8. A notification for the state elections was issued on October 17 and the last date for the filing of nominations was October 25. Scrutiny of papers was held on October 27.
• On being asked about rebel candidates in Himachal Pradesh, BJP state president Kashyap said efforts were on to persuade rebel BJP candidates to withdraw their nominations. Those rebel BJP candidates who will not withdraw their nominations will be expelled from the party for six years, the Shimla MP added. However, he expressed hope that the rebel candidates would withdraw their nominations and the situation would not arise to expel them from the party.
• Himachal Pradesh BJP president Kashyap said BJP chief J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Anurag Thakur, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Smriti Irani, party spokesperson Sambit Patra and several other prominent leaders will also address election meetings in various parts of the state.
• In Gujarat, as part of the process, a report will be prepared by the observers on the basis of the feedback, which will be submitted to the state BJP. It will form the basis for the selection of candidates for the upcoming polls, they added. A total of 38 teams, which include current and former ministers, MPs, senior office-bearers at the national, state and district levels, among others, have been formed for the purpose, the party leaders said.
• Incidentally, the Congress has not organised a major rally as yet in the run up to the upcoming polls, with even star campaigner Rahul Gandhi away leading the party’s nationwide ‘Bharat Jodo’ event.
• The opposition Congress in Gujarat will take out ‘Parivartan Sankalp’ yatras from October 31 across five zones in the state, party functionaries said on Thursday.
• Gujarat Congress chief spokesperson Manish Doshi said Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Digvijay Singh and Kamal Nath, and senior leader Mukul Wasnik will launch the marches from five different towns.
• Ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday held a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP’s state unit president C R Paatil, a party leader said.
• The Gujarat administration transferred over 900 officials ahead of assembly polls after being pulled up by the Election Commission, but 51 more, including six senior IPS officers are yet to be moved out, sources told news agency PTI on Wednesday. Now, the poll panel has asked the state chief secretary to ensure that the remaining officers report to “respective headquarters” and a compliance report sent by 4.00 PM Thursday, the sources said.
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