The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced the name of Vadodara deputy mayor Ranjan Ben Bhatta as its candidate for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, which was vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PM Modi had retained the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The party also announced the name of local municipal corporator Suresh Patel as the candidate for the Maninagar Assembly constituency that Modi represented as Chief Minister of Gujarat.
It was widely speculated that BJP president Amit Shah would be fielded from the seat, but Shah has decided not to contest keeping in view the responsibility entrusted upon him in steering the party.
After being nominated, Bhatta told reporters that he was very happy as the BJP gave her a huge responsibility.
Modi, who had contested from both the seats in the Lok Sabha election, had told the electorate of Varanasi that if he won he would prefer Varanasi over Vadodara.
The names were part of BJP’s list of candidates for the bypolls to 33 Assembly constituencies in states of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
By-elections to these constituencies would be held on September 13 and results will be declared on September 16. The last date for filing nominations is August 27.
There are vacancies to 9 Assembly constituencies in Gujarat.
