The Aam Aadmi Party tops the list with 61 such candidates.
The Election Commission on Wednesday asked the Gujarat chief electoral officer to inquire and take action "as warranted" after the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that its Surat (East) candidate was abducted and coerced by the Bharatiya Janata Party to withdraw from the poll fray.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is contesting 88 seats out of the total 89, tops this list among major political parties in the fray with 36 per cent of its candidates having criminal cases. Thirty per cent of its candidates are facing serious cases such as murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, among others, the ADR said in its report. The number of candidates having criminal cases fielded by the AAP is 32.
Vasava is the president of Gujarat BJP's Scheduled Tribe Morcha and represented the erstwhile Rajpipla seat between 2002 and 2007 and from 2007 to 2012.
This will be the first civic election after the fresh delimitation exercise, and the much-awaited poll will be held in the gap between the two phases of the Gujarat assembly elections, which will take place on December 1 and 5.
There is no sign of it losing popularity with a significant section of the voting population, which appears to be attracted to the party for identity reasons, observes Aakar Patel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will head to poll-bound Gujarat this weekend and is expected to participate in at least eight programmes, crisscrossing the state from Saurashtra to Surat.
The order that was passed less than a week ahead of the first phase of polls scheduled on October 10 throws a spanner in the election process.
In a jolt to the opposition Congress ahead of the assembly polls in Gujarat, senior MLA Mohansinh Rathva on Tuesday resigned as a party member and legislator and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In the manifesto released on Saturday, the Congress also promised unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 per month, Rs 2,000 pension to divyangs, widows, senior citizens and needy women, and waiver of loans of up to Rs 3 lakh of all fishermen, among other things.
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.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of leaking Aam Aadmi Party minister Satyendar Jain's videos from Tihar jail in New Delhi and claimed that he was undergoing physiotherapy for a spine injury.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has signed an 'agreement of cooperation' with several party members who might be fielded in the upcoming Manipur assembly elections, in a bid to prevent switching of allegiance before the polls.
Mevani claimed the time has come for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "retire".
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 Bharatiya Janata Party is considering fielding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Ayodhya in the upcoming assembly elections, sources in the party said on Wednesday as senior leaders met to finalise candidates.
Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat's electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has significant presence.
It also allowed political parties and candidates to hold meetings and rallies with the restriction of using only 50 per cent capacity of space being relaxed.
The EC has removed returning officers of eight constituencies in Kolkata that will go to the polls in the last two phases of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 26 and 29, an official said.
Reaching out to Jats, a politically crucial community in western Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah has presented his party as the best bet for them, saying voting for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal or any other party would not help their cause.
Announcing the election schedule with a strong focus on digital and virtual modes of campaigning, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra said the ban on rallies, roadshows, nukkad sabhas, padayatras and vehicle rallies will be reviewed on January 15.
Noting that COVID safety norms were being flouted in West Bengal during campaigning, the Election Commission banned roadshows and vehicle rallies in the state with immediate effect and said no public meeting having more than 500 people would be allowed.
'I am entering politics because I have seen the sufferings of the people of Gujarat'
"Owaisi is an old friend of mine. As far as I know, he was 'Kshatriya' (Hindu) earlier. He is a descendent of Lord Ram, not the one belonging to Iran," said Singh.
It also assured that the amount of medical insurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme would be doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is considering fielding Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Ayodhya as its senior leaders meet to finalise candidates for the assembly polls starting from February 10.
The last two phases of the elections will be held on March 3 and 7.
The party is counting on women voters and caste calculus, among others, to swing the crucial polls in its favour
Nearly 3.64 lakh educated and "semi-educated" youngsters had registered with employment exchanges across Gujarat till December 2021, according to state government data.
Campaigning for the fifth phase ended on Friday evening, and all necessary arrangements have been completed, state Chief Election Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said in Lucknow on Saturday.
The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam maintained its winning streak in the two-phase local body elections in the nine newly created districts in Tamil Nadu trouncing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which had earlier suffered defeat in the April 6 assembly election.
Five-time MLA Parshottam Solanki, who is also known as 'Bhai' among his followers, has been winning Bhavnagar-Rural with a comfortable margin.
The family members of the fishermen lodged in Pakistani jails say they would vote for those parties in the upcoming elections which assure to bring their relatives back from the neighbouring country.
The meeting was to know how the party plans to grant reservation to Patidars if voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat.
Election will be held in 60 out of the total 294 seats in the first two phases of the eight-phased polls which is slated to stretch from March 27 to April 29. The date for the second phase of election is April 1.
Prime ministers turning up with such frequency to launch trains is an indication of the political mileage resident in public transport. Will our railways step out of the government's shadow? After all, they are the ones manufacturing trains and running them, notes Shyam G Menon.
'The BJP has replaced huge portraits of the two BJP leaders from Gujarat with very small portraits of many leaders from Bihar. Much is being read into this changed tactic of hoardings and banners,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'I don't need to go out now. I don't have to buy votes. My workers are campaigning for me, visiting villages. I know people in every village and their issues,' says the 78-year-old leader.
Top Punjabi singers have descended into the electoral scene in Punjab, courtesy political parties seeking to cash in on their popularity to woo voters.
Security was beefed up at all BJP offices throughout the state following the violence which erupted after the candidate list was announced, official sources said.
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