The BJP is likely to release the first list of candidates for the Assembly elections on Thursday.
The formal announcement in this regard is likely to be made by Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav and party state president CR Patil in Ahmedabad, reported ANI.
"Top brass of the saffron party has finalized most of the tickets out of a total of 182 constituencies. The remaining powers have been vested with the party president JP Nadda to take a call on the other seats," sources told ANI.
This comes as several top leaders from the state have come out in the open to declare that they are not in the fray. This includes former chief minister Vijay Rupani and his then-deputy Nitin Patel. Rupani told reporters on Wednesday that he has already informed the leadership that young people should be given a chance and that he is not interested in contesting the elections.
R.C. Faldu, Kaushik Patel and Saurabh Patel, who were also members of the Rupani cabinet, have also declared that they are not contesting the elections. Gujarat votes on December 1 and 5 to elect 182 lawmakers.
Bhavesh Katara may join BJP
Congress MLA from Jhalod in Gujarat's Dahod district Bhavesh Katara has resigned as the legislator, ahead of the upcoming state Assembly elections. He is the third Congress MLA to resign in the last two days after Mohansinh Rathwa and Bhagwan Barad.
Katara went to the residence of Assembly Speaker Nimaben Acharya on Wednesday night and submitted his resignation to her, an official statement said.
His resignation comes at a time when the BJP is finalising candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections. Katara is likely to join the BJP on Thursday.
Earlier, Rathwa and Barad also joined the saffron party after resigning from the Congress party and as MLAs.
Gujarat elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and December 5, and the counting of votes will be held on December 8.
(With inputs from PTI)
