Gujarat: Alpesh Thakor to contest from Radhanpur

While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to declare the names of candidates for the upcoming bypolls, sources say that Alpesh Thakor will file his nomination from Radhanpur on September 30 at around 1.43 pm.

Thakor had resigned from the Radhanpur seat earlier in the year, after he and his supporter Dhavalsinh Zala, voted for BJP in the Rajya Sabha election. Both Thakor and Zala had won the Radhanpur and Bayad seats respectively on a Congress ticket.

The state BJP, meanwhile, continued to be tight-lipped about the name of their candidate. After Thakor's resignation from Congress, it has been a foregone conclusion that he would be repeated from the same seat on a BJP ticket, but the party is known to pull a surprise at the last moment.

"Thakor will be filing his nomination for the Radhanpur seat on September 30," a source said. Prashant Vala, the BJP spokesperson, refused to confirm or deny the development. "A meeting to decide the candidates for the six seats that go to polls was held under the leadership of the Chief Minister," Vala said. "The state unit has sent its recommendations to the Parliamentary board and they will announce them soon." He said the candidates for all the six seats would be named in a day or two.

Earlier on Thursday, posters of Zala declaring him as the BJP candidate for Bayad Assembly constituency went viral on social media. The poster mentioned that Zala would become the voice of poor of Bayad and people have been requested by him to join on September 30 to file his nomination.

Zala, on his part, distanced himself from the posters believed to be put up by his detractors. He told DNA on Friday that it was a conspiracy against him and that it was done to 'defame' him.

Zala is among the contenders for the seat, but unlike Thakore, many in the party say his candidature is not a foregone conclusion. Zala had defeated BJP's Adesinh Chauhan in the 2017 Assembly polls. Chauhan is reportedly unhappy with the Thakor leader being considered for the seat by the BJP's leadership, sources said. Thakor had defeated BJP's Lavingji Thakor, himself a turncoat who joined BJP before the elections after he was denied ticket from Radhanpur by Congress. The NCP has meanwhile declared that it will be contesting all six seats.

—Zee Media Newsroom