Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named its candidates for by-elections to the five assembly seats that fell vacant after the sitting legislators resigned from the assembly to join the BJP, according to an announcement by the party.

The five legislators – four former Congress legislators and one Independent MLA – have been given the party ticket for the upcoming by-election to be held on May 7 which coincides with the third round of the seven-phase general elections.

According to the BJP’s announcement, Arjun Modhwadia would be fielded from Porbander, Chatursinh Chavda from Vijapur in Mehsana district, Chirag Patel from Khambhat assembly seat in Anand district, and Arvind Ladani from Manavadar. They all were fielded by the Congress in the 2022 assembly elections but resigned over the past few months and joined the BJP.

The fifth candidate, Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, was previously associated with the BJP in Vadodara district but contested the 2022 assembly elections as an Independent candidate after his claim for a ticket was overlooked by the party. Vaghela won the Vaghodia seat, beating the BJP’s official candidate Ashvin Patel by a margin of over 14,000 votes. He resigned from the assembly in January this year and rejoined the BJP.

Arjun Modhwadia, who has been fielded from the Porbandar seat, switched to the BJP earlier this month after spending more than 40 years with the Congress. The three-term legislator had also served as the leader of the opposition and as the state unit chief of the western state. He joined the BJP earlier this month after resigning from the party and the assembly.

CJ Chavda, another three-term MLA, who had a long-standing association with the Congress, has been fielded from the Vijapur assembly segment which he had won on a Congress ticket in the 2002, 2017 and 2022 assembly elections. He quit the Congress in January this year.

Arvind Ladani, who won the Manavadar seat in Junagarh district in the 2022 elections on a Congress ticket, has been named as the BJP candidate from the same seat. Ladani resigned from the party in March this year.

Chirag Patel has been fielded for the Khambat by-poll. Patel, a first-time MLA, won the 2022 elections on a Congress ticket and defeated the BJP’s Mayur Raval by a narrow margin of less than 4,000 votes. He resigned from the Congress in December 2023, citing factionalism within the party’s state unit and expressing dissatisfaction with the leadership’s approach.

In the Gujarat assembly elections held in 2022, BJP retained power for the seventh straight term, winning 156 of the 182 assembly seats. The Congress bagged 17 seats, five seats went to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), three seats were won by independents and one by Samajwadi Party (SP).

With six Congress MLAs resigning over the last few months, the Congress’s strength in the assembly has declined to 13 while the Aam Aadmi Party, which won five seats, has reduced to four after former AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani, who had won from the Visavadar seat, quit the party.

The election commission has announced by-polls in Gujarat for the five seats out of six vacant ones.

The by-polls for the Visavadar seat are currently pending after a petition has been filed in the Gujarat High Court by BJP candidate Harshad Ribadiya. He lost in the 2022 assembly polls to Bhayani and is contesting his opponent’s victory, challenging the election results.