Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife Rivaba among 38 new faces in BJP’s list to fight Gujarat polls

The BJP has chosen Rivaba Jadeja, cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife, to contest  from Jamnagar North for in the Gujarat elections, replacing current legislator Dharmendrasinh M Jadeja, who is among 38 sitting MLAs to be dropped in the first list of 160  candidates announced today. The names of another 22 candidates are still being finalised.

Rivaba Jadeja, joined the BJP in 2019 and is holds a mechanical engineering degree.

The BJP has given poll tickets to as many as eight leaders who left the Congress to join the saffron party includingHardik Patel from Viramgram.

The sitting MLA from Morbi, where a bridge collapse killed over 130 people recently,  has been dropped and a former MLA involved in the rescue effort in the tragedy has been chosen to contest instead.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will fight from Ghatlodia while Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi will contest elections from Majura constituency.

Announcing the names in Delhi, Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav said the MLAs were replaced with their consent.

The list covers 84 of the 89 seats that vote in the first phase on December 1, and 76 of 93 that go to polls on December 5. Results will be out on December 8, along with those of Himachal Pradesh.

Some senior BJP leaders have not been given tickets, including former chief minister Vijay Rupani, who have said they were opting out on their own.

Gujarat has been the BJP bastion for close to three decades and the party is seeking its seventh term in office. The Congress is seeking to oust the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also making efforts to put up a strong performance in the poll.