In the initial list of 160 candidates released by the ruling party for the State Assembly elections, Bhupendra Patel,
the chief minister of Gujarat, Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, and Hardik Patel, a former congressman, are all listed.
Rivaba Jadeja, a party newcomer who joined in 2019, has been nominated by the BJP as its contender for the Jamnagar North seat,
replacing Congress defector and current MLA Dharmendrasinh M. Jadeja, who was denied the right to have criminal charges against him dropped on Wednesday.
Hardik Patel, a Congress immigrant running for a seat in the Ahmedabad district, is being supported by the ruling party.
Before joining the ruling party in August, Mr. Patel served as the spokesperson for the Patidar quota movement and was the working president of the Gujarat Congress.
Manibhai Vaghela, a former lawmaker who switched sides to the Congress, has been nominated for the Vadgam seat to challenge the incumbent MLA and well-known Dalit campaigner Jignesh Mevani.
The party chose Kanti Amrutiya, a former MLA who had lost in 2017, in place of Brijesh Merja, the current MLA and Minister from Morbi,