The Congress on Sunday released its first list of 77 candidates for phase one of the Gujarat Assembly poll with senior leaders from the state, Arjun Modhwadia and Shaktisinh Gohil, getting tickets for the crucial election.
According to an NDTV report, 19 members of the Patidar community including two aides of Patidar leader Hardik Patel have also been included in the list following which members of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) vandalised Congress office in Surat, alleging that the two leaders of the movement were included in the list without their consent.
Out of the total candidates nominated, 11 belong to the scheduled tribe (ST) category and seven are from the scheduled caste (SC) category.
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The Congress leadership had held discussions on all the Assembly segments in the state at the party's central election committee meeting held two days ago.
The party is in talks with the NCP and breakaway faction of the JD(U) led by Sharad Yadav.
Of the total 182 assembly segments in the state, 89 seats will go to poll in the first phase to be held on December 9.
The process of nomination for the phase has already started with the issue of notification on November 14. The last date for filing nominations is November 21.
The remaining 93 segments will go to poll on December 14. The result of the election will be announced on December 18 along with that of Himachal Pradesh. Polling in the hilly state was held on November 9.
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The Congress is seeking to wrest power from the BJP after a hiatus over two decades in Gujarat.
The saffron party has already declared its two lists of candidates for the first phase, fielding 106 candidates so far.
(With PTI inputs)
