Junagadh (Gujarat) [India], April 11 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday announced candidates for 28 out of the 30 seats in the Junagadh District Panchayat.
The announcement was made following a meeting of the State Election Committee chaired by Gujarat BJP President Jagdish Vishwakarma.
Candidates for the Kalsari seats in Bhesan and Visavadar constituencies are yet to be finalised and will be announced at a later stage.
Asmita Thummar, wife of former District Panchayat President Haresh Thummar, has been given the party ticket for the Mendarda seat.
Similarly, Leenaben Kavani, wife of former Vice President Vipul Kavani, has been fielded from the Sarsai seat.
The decision highlights that tickets have been allotted to the spouses of both former top office bearers of the district body.
Out of the 28 candidates announced so far, four are re-nominations, while the remaining 24 candidates are first-time entrants, marking a significant infusion of new faces in the party's local leadership lineup. The BJP leadership stated that the selection reflects its strategy to strengthen grassroots representation and bring in fresh leadership for local governance bodies.
Earlier, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, while addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad on Gujarat local body elections, urged voters to actively participate in the democratic process.
He said, " I request all of you to exercise your right to vote on April 26th, which is the voting day (for local body polls). Ensure the success of all your party candidates. Remember that unless you ensure the success of your candidates in such local bodies, wards, and municipal elections, your leadership will not emerge from the grassroots. Remember, the reality of India's democracy is that justice will be served only by a society that has a leader. Any society or community that lacks a leader will continue to be oppressed. Their traditional rights will be taken away, and they will be reduced to second-class citizens. Muslims are certainly the largest minority in this country, but our misfortune has been that we have reduced ourselves to mere voters. We should have given ourselves citizenship rights, but we have fallen prey to the deceptive lies of these cunning political parties."
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