The BJP in Gujarat has introduced a slew of tough criteria for selection of candidates in the local civil and panchayat elections to be held this month.
Under the new norms announced by the State party chief C.R. Paatil, a municipal councillor or panchayat member who has completed three consecutive terms will not be repeated, and members of a leader’s family and those above 60 years of age will not be entertained for party ticket.
The announcement comes as the State parliamentary board begins the selection process for elections in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar municipal corporations. The party has been governing the Ahmedabad municipal corporation since 2005 and the other five bodies since 1995.
“We have introduced the new criteria in order to give more opportunity to the youth,” Mr Paatil told media persons in Gandhinagar.
The local body elections are scheduled to be held in two phases on February 21 and 28. Elections in six municipal corporations will be held on February 21 and in the municipalities, district panchayats and taluka panchayats on February 28.
Results of the first phase will be declared on February 23 and the second phase on March 2.
Besides six municipal corporations, 31 district panchayats, 230 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities are also going for elections after completing their term late last year. The elections were postponed for three months in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the party insiders, the BJP has received more than 7500 applications from workers to contest the elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress late on Monday night released its first list of 142 candidates for various wards in five municipal corporations, except Ahmedabad. The list contains the names for different wards in Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar Municipal Corporations.
The party has named 52 contestants for the Surat civic body, 20 for Vadodara, 22 for Rajkot, 27 for Jamnagar, and 21 for Bhavnagar civic bodies.
The BJP has not yet declared its list of candidates.
Besides Congress and the BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also entering the fray this time and it has come up with four lists of candidates. The All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) had announced earlier that it would contest in a few chosen seats in its maiden foray into the State’s politics.
The Congress has approached the Gujarat High Court challenging the election schedule which includes counting of votes of municipal elections before the voting for panchayats and municipality polls. The court has issued notice and directed the State and the State Election Commission to file their affidavits before February 6.
