Under Amit Shah's strategy, BJP shortlists 3 aspirants for each of 182 seats in poll-bound Gujarat

Ahmedabad: The BJP has formed panels of three probable candidates for each of the total 182 constituencies in poll-bound Gujarat during the state parliamentary board meeting, which was attended by the party president Amit Shah. The names of the probable candidates were short-listed during the last six days with Shah attending the proceedings of the meeting every day since 21 October, sources said on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_4146325” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP president Amit Shah. News18[/caption] Shah’s involvement in forming the panel of hopefuls for each seat indicates the significance the saffron party is attaching to the high-stake polls, scheduled to be held in two phases in December. Addressing “Gujarat Gaurav Mahasammelan” in Gandhinagar on 16 October, Shah exhorted the BJP workers to ensure an improved tally of 150 seats over the 129 the party won in 2002 under the then chief minister and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Each constituency was discussed during the six-day meeting of the state (BJP) parliamentary board,” sources said. Shah guided the meeting which was held at Shantiniketan near Adalaj village in Gandhinagar district, they said. As part of its procedure to pick candidates, the BJP had sent observers to every district in Gujarat to listen to ticket aspirants. “The panel of probable candidates for constituencies was formed on the basis of the report of these observers,” according to sources. Explaining the procedure, the sources said the names of ticket aspirants will now be sent to the Central Parliamentary board of the party after which the list of candidates will be out. Apart from Shah, state BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, chief minister Vijay Rupani, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, joint National Secretary V Satish, former chief minister Anandiben Patel attended the meeting. Gujarat will go to polls on 9 and 14 December and counting of votes will be taken up on 18 December. While the gazette notification for the first phase of polls will be issued on 14 November, the last dates for filing the nominations for the first and second phases are 21 and 27 November, respectively.