Who is Payal Kukarni? BJP nominates Naroda Patia riots case convict's daughter to contest in Gujarat Polls

The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has released the first list of 160 candidates, contesting in Gujarat assembly elections 2022. 14 women, including Dr. Payal Kukrani, were on the first BJP list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections that are scheduled to happen in December. She is a candidate from Ahmedabad's Naroda Assembly constituency. The 30-year-old is an anaesthetist at a private hospital.

Who is Payal Kulkarni?

Contesting in Gujarat upcoming assembly polls from Naroda seat, Payal Kukrani  is the daughter of Manoj Kukrani  who is one of the convicts in 2002 Naroda Patia riot case in which 97 Muslims were murdered. A division bench of the Gujarat High Court upheld the convictions of 15 other people in 2018, including Manoj Kukrani and Babubhai Patel, popularly known as Babu Bajrangi, while acquitting 17 of the accused, including former BJP minister Maya Kodnani.

In the Supreme Court, where the case is still pending, the convicts appealed the order. All of them, including Kukrani, are out on bail. Maya Kodnani represented Naroda, a Sindhi-dominated district, as an MLA during the riots. She served three terms as a representative. Her third tenure came to an end following her arrest in 2009, conviction in 2012, and later acquittal in 2018. Naroda seat has been held by the BJP for about 30 years.

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The party nominated Payal, one of the 160 candidates on the BJP's list of women, to replace MLA Balram Thawani. Anesthetist Payal Kukrani is the BJP's youngest female candidate. Payal said, “I am extremely happy that the party has placed its trust in me and gave me a ticket. My father gave 40 years to BJP. After completing my education, I took part in my mother's election campaign as well," India Today reported.

Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravinder Jadeja, is one of the female candidates running in the Gujarat elections. Jadeja joined the ruling BJP in 2019 and has since taken the position of a current candidate from the Jamnagar North constituency.