Gujarat Lok Sabha elections: Know the date of voting and Congress candidates

Gujarat, the BJP citadel, will vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in a single phase on May 7 across all the 26 parliamentary constituencies in the state. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

As per the Election Commission's announcement, the 2024 general elections will be conducted for all the 543 Lok Sabha seats in seven phases from April 19 to June 1.

Being the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat remains in the limelight during the general elections as it can play a key role in determining the outcome.

In the last two Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has registered massive success in the state, winning all 26 seats. In 2019, the saffron party secured a 62.21% vote share, restricting the Congress party to a mere 32.11%.

This time, the BJP is eyeing to win all the seats in Gujarat for the third time in a row, thanks to PM Modi's enduring influence, which continues to remain a significant factor in the state.

The Congress party allied with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). As per the seat-sharing formula, the Congress will field its candidates on 24 seats, while the rest of the two – Bhavnagar and Bharuch – will be contested by AAP.

In Gujarat, voting will be held on May 7 during the third phase of the 2024 general elections. In 2019, polling in the state was held on April 23, while it registered a total voter turnout of 64.51%.

The state has 26 parliamentary constituencies; two are reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates and four for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates. The rest of the seats are unreserved.

After being wiped out in the last two general elections in Gujarat, the Congress party will be striving to reclaim its footing in the state this time. The party witnessed a one-on-one contest with the BJP in the last few Lok Sabha elections here. However, this time, Congress is contesting the polls in an alliance with AAP.

Earlier this month, the Congress party released its second list of candidates, including seven names from Gujarat. However, the party's Ahmedabad East seat candidate Rohan Gupta later withdrew his nomination owing to his father’s serious medical condition.

Let's take a look at the candidates announced by the Congress party so far in Gujarat

No. Lok Sabha seats Congress candidates

1                                    Kachchh                         Nitishbhai Lalan

2                                    Banaskantha                   Geniben Thakor

3                                    Patan

4                                    Mahesana

5                                    Sabarkantha

6                                    Gandhinagar

7                                    Ahmedabad East

8                                    Ahmedabad West                     Bharat Makwana

9                                    Surendranagar

10                                  Rajkot

11                                  Porbandar                                Lalitbhai Vasoya

12                                  Jamnagar

13                                  Junagadh

14                                  Amreli

15                                  Bhavnagar            Umesh Makwana (AAP candidate)

16                                  Anand

17                                  Kheda

18                                  Panchmahal

19                                  Dahod

20                                  Vadodara

21                                  Chhota Udaipur

22                                  Bharuch                Chaitar Vasava (AAP candidate)

23                                  Bardoli                 Siddharth Chaudhary

24                                  Surat

25                                   Navsari

26                                   Valsad                  Anantbhai Patel