BJP chief Amit Shah replaces veteran LK Advani in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will contest Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat's Gandhinagar parliamentary seat, said senior party leader JP Nadda while announcing party first list of 184 candidates on Thursday. Shah's contesting from the Gandhinagar parliamentary seat apparently hints that party stalwart LK Advani's political career is over. This is the first time when Shah will be contesting the general elections. Currently, he is as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.

Earlier, the party had sent observers on Saturday to seek the opinion of party workers and leaders in Gandhinagar about the candidate from the seat. Most party workers reportedly told the observers that Shah was their choice for the seat.

"BJP workers want party president Amit Shah to contest from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. I made this demand in front of the observers and it was supported by all," said Kishor Chauhan, a party MLA from Vejalpur, which is a part of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

He said Shah was earlier an MLA from Sarkhej seat, which is a part of the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency.

All BJP workers were of the view that the seat was held by a national leader so far, so someone from the central leadership should contest from here, another party observer Prithviraj Patel said.

The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat was won by Advani six times since 1991, barring the 1996 Lok Sabha polls. In the 1996 general elections, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had won the Gandhinagar seat as well as from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat comprises seven assembly constituencies, namely Gandhinagar North, Kalol, Sanand, Ghatlodia, Vejalpur, Naranpura, and Sabarmati.

The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 will be held in seven phases, starting from April 11, while the results of all the phases will be declared on May 23. Announcing the seven-phase schedule for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora also said 10 lakh polling stations would be set up this time as against about nine lakhs in 2014.

In the first phase, 91 constituencies will go for polls, 97 constituencies in the second phase, 115 constituencies in the third, 71 in the fourth phase, 51 in the fifth phase, 59 in the sixth phase and 59 in the seventh phase. In the first phase, the polling will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Delhi, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand.

With PTI Inputs