As soon as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announed that national president Amit Shah will contest elections from Gandhinagar constituency, a wave of celebration spread over Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad. People started bursting crackers and dancing on dhol beats as soon as his candidature was declared.
The party today announced its list of 184 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While Prime Minister Modi will contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, BJP national president Amit Shah will be contesting from Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat, which the BJP has held since 1989.
“Gandhinagar has been a BJP stronghold since over two decades now. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested elections from Gandhinagar constituency in 1996 and became the Prime Minister, even though it was only for 13 days. The BJP, especially L K Advani has nurtured the constituency and we can only wish it soars newer heights under Amit Shah,” said Gaurang Mehta, an Ahmedabad resident amidst the sounds of firecrackers.
The fact that the national president is fighting from Gujarat and that too Gandhinagar, a seat which Advani has built over the years will even boost the morale of rest of the Gujarat too.
Currently, L K Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister is the MP representing Gandhinagar constituency. BJP President Amit Shah is currently the Rajya Sabha member for Gujarat.
Gujarat has 26 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat and the names of candidates for remaining 25 constituencies are not yet announced.