Kejriwal's announcement is a renewed push to counter the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat and attract Hindu voters, as per political experts.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday headed for a second straight win from the urban constituency of Ghatlodia, where he had taken a comfortable lead of almost 20,000 votes over his nearest rival after five rounds of vote counting.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mounted a blazing campaign in the hot summer after he was released from the Tihar jail on interim bail on May 10, drawing huge crowds at rallies and roadshows, but it proved insufficient to propel his Aam Aadmi Party past the Bharartiya Janata Party challenge in the national capital.
'The biggest problem that faces the Opposition in Gujarat is just a day or two before voting is scheduled, Modiji goes on a spree of emotional appeals.' 'That process has been set in motion much earlier this time in Gujarat.'
Gandhi refused to comment on the tragedy in Morbi where a bridge collapsed leaving more than 130 dead.
As many as 833 candidates are in the fray across 93 constituencies which will go to polls on December 5. Votes will be counted on December 8.
The Congress and BJP are apprehensive that AAP might eat into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas, a section of minorities, and Dalits, thus delivering a fatal blow in the closely-contested seats. But the local BJP is elated over the entry of AIMIM as there will be a contender for minority votes apart from the Congress in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi, which have considerable Muslim electorate.
The BJP can't be sure if it should celebrate that the old rival is fading or worry that new ones are rising. Because the last thing the BJP wants to see is alternatives rising, if only to the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The police on Saturday detained the Aam Aadmi Party Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann and several party workers ahead of a farmers' meeting at Doliya in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.
While the BJP faces rebellion in some pockets and an undercurrent of anger palpable among the dominant OBC Chaudhary community due to the arrest of dairy cooperative leader and former home minister Vipul Chahduary, local caste dynamics and selection of candidates are likely to play a major role in the final outcome, political analysts said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel were among the prominent faces who exercised their franchise in the second phase of Gujarat elections on Monday.
Gujarat has registered a voter turnout of 64.33 per cent for the recently-concluded elections to 182 assembly seats, a drop of more than 4 per cent as compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 polls.
She said the Delhi CM was jailed because he built schools, provided free electricity and opened Mohalla Clinics.
The BJP could surpass its previous best showing of 127 seats in 2002 when Modi was the chief minister.
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday that he would resign after two days and sought early polls in the national capital while vowing not to sit in the chief minister's chair till people give him a 'certificate of honesty'.
Vanzara, a former "encounter specialist", was acquitted in the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Shaikh and Tulsiram Prajapati and discharged in the Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case.
The party is eyeing at expanding its footprint across the country and has tied up with the Congress to contest the Lok Sabha polls against the BJP in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
In his absence, the party stares at uncertainty as many of its other senior leaders are either in jail or in political obscurity.
Of the 788 candidates contesting 89 seats in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly polls, 211 are 'crorepatis', with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party accounting for 79 such nominees, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a report on Thursday.
The BJP had attacked him and the AAP after a video went viral showing him attending the event on October 5 where hundreds took a pledge to convert to Buddhism and not consider Hindu deities as gods.
A total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are contesting the polls in these assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.
AAP is working on its new strategy to build a strong organisational set-up with leaders from all sections of society, reports Nitin Kumar.
Suspended Congress leader Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Surat Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat unopposed, resurfaced on Saturday after 20 days and alleged it was the grand old party that had betrayed him first in 2017.
The choice that bypasses several other senior government leaders is likely to set a stage for another round of tussle between the AAP dispensation and the LG Secretariat.
Kejriwal urged AAP members to strengthen the party at grassroots level.
The Delhi Police on Monday questioned former minister Rajendra Pal Gautam over his presence at a religious conversion event where Hindu deities were allegedly denounced, and he will again be quizzed on October 11, senior officials said.
AAP will have to learn to be patient as such electoral changes do not happen in a hurry, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Nearly 3.64 lakh educated and "semi-educated" youngsters had registered with employment exchanges across Gujarat till December 2021, according to state government data.
November 14 was the last day for filing nominations for the high-stakes Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections for 250 wards.
Gujarat will go to polls in two phases on December 1 and 5 with the counting of votes on December 8 along with that of Himachal Pradesh, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar announced.
"Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in panchayat polls, we scored a victory in 83 panchayats. AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, where 1600 party candidates contested," Singh, AAP's UP in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
'Kejriwal could have easily deputed someone to step in as chief minister, but being the authoritative and self-centered personality that he is, he chose not to do it.' 'If the AAP loses Delhi, where it has a huge majority, the only one to blame would be Kejriwal,' asserts Ramesh Menon.
'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'
Political analysts say the road to the 2024 polls for the Congress is going to get tougher as it is a party that is 'in the ICU' and cannot be revived with quick-fix solutions.
Come December 8, and the Congress will again do well in Saurashtra region, he says.
Former AAP minister Rajendra Pal Gautam was questioned for three hours on Tuesday in connection with a complaint received against his presence at a religious conversion event where Hindu deities were allegedly denounced, officials said.
If Kejriwal is arrested, it will take very little for Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to summon a meeting of the assembly, direct it to elect a new leader of the House, and, if it doesn't, dissolve it and impose President's Rule, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday attributed the party's "historic" victory in Gujarat assembly polls to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's credibility and people's trust in his leadership.
'Can you imagine that Surat's voters won't have any say now in exercising their fundamental right to choose a candidate of their own choice? This is what the BJP has reduced India's democracy to.' 'With this ugly act, in one stroke, the BJP has disenfranchised the voters of Surat.'
