Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: Congress releases first list of 77 candidates

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AHMEDABAD: The Congress on Sunday released the first list of its 77 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections with senior leaders from the state Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhwadia getting tickets.

This is our 1st Candidate list of 77 Candidates for #GujaratElection2017.

Congratulations & Best wishes to all the 77 Candidates. કોંગ્રેસ આવે છે, નવસર્જન લાવે છે! #NavsarjanGujarat pic.twitter.com/C8OCsbTavR

— Bharat Solanki (@BharatSolankee) November 19, 2017

The announcement comes after the Gujarat Congress and the Hardik Patel led-Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) on Sunday said that they had reached an agreement over the issue of granting reservation to Patels, if the Congress is voted to power in the state Assembly election.

Hardik Patel was not present at the meeting.

"Earlier, we had asked the Congress to clarify how they would grant Patidars a constitutionally valid reservation. Today, we held a crucial meeting on that issue and finally reached a consensus on various options offered by the party to us. Official announcement of this agreement will be made by Hardik on Monday in Rajkot," PAAS convener Dinesh Bambhania said after the meeting on the issue, as per PTI. 

The Congress is locked in a bitter contest with the BJP, which has been in power in the state since 1995.

On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already released a list of 106-candidates which includes incumbent Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The CM will take on Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru in Rajkot West. 

State BJP chief Jitu Vaghani had said on Saturday, "We have declared 36 names (in the second list), so the total candidates declared by us so far is 106. Out of these, 60 candidates are for the first phase of polls to be held on December 9, while the remaining are of the second phase to be held on December 14."

Gujarat goes to polls in December, where the first phase for 89 seats will be held on the 9th and for the remaining 93 seats it will be held on the 14th.

The results will be announced along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 18.

(With Agency inputs)