Ahmedabad: Congress has chosen Sonal Patel for the high-profile Gandhinagar seat against Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been fielded for the second term by the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Sonal Patel is the Congress co-incharge of Maharashtra and is the former president of Gujarat Mahila Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress had fielded CJ Chavda from Gandhinagar but was defeated by Shah by 5.57 votes. He then won from Vijaypur seat in the 2022 Assembly elections. However, he resigned from the Gujarat Assembly in January.
The Gandhinagar parliamentary seat is considered to be a stronghold of the BJP for over three decades. It has sent several stalwarts to the Parliament till now. Presently, the seat is represented by Shah, whose victory in the last elections is considered as the biggest win in the history of elections.
Gandhinagar, Gujarat's capital, is one of the most prestigious parliamentary constituencies in India. This Lok Sabha seat came into existence in 1967. The constituency includes Gandhinagar North, Kalol, Sanand, Ghatlodiya, Vejalpur, Naranpura and Sabarmati.
The first MP of this seat was Somchand Solanki of Congress. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela represented this seat in the past. Shah has been holding this seat since 2019.
Congress is yet to announce seven more candidates in Gujarat for Surendranagar, Mehsana, Junagadh, Rajkot, Vadodara, Navsari and Ahmedabad East seats. Earlier on March 12, Congress had announced seven candidates from the state.
However, Rohan Gupta, who was announced for Ahmedabad East seat, has refused to contest the elections citing his father's ill health.
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