BJP’s Vadodara and Sabarkantha candidates pull out of LS poll race for ‘personal reasons’

Ahmedabad, Mar 23 (PTI) Two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates – one each from Vadodara and Sabarkantha Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat – on Saturday expressed their unwillingness to contest the upcoming general elections citing personal reasons.
Sitting MP Ranjan Bhatt, who was fielded by the saffron party from the Vadodara seat, announced that she was not keen on fighting the election. Her candidature had faced stiff resistance from some sections within the BJP. Soon after that, the party’s Sabarkantha candidate Bhikhaji Thakor also announced on social media his unwillingness to contest the poll.

“I, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt, am unwilling to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 due to my personal reasons,” Bhatt announced on X. Similarly, Thakor announced on Instagram that he did not want to fight the election. “I, Bhikhaji Thakor, am unwilling to contest the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha 2024 election due to personal reasons,” Thakor said. Bhatt’s decision comes days after banners criticising BJP’s decision to renominate her from the Vadodara Lok Sabha came up at different spots in the city. Some local BJP leaders had also expressed their displeasure over Bhatt’s nomination. Bhatt had won the 2014 by-election after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vacated the seat. She won the election in 2019, and was announced as BJP’s candidate for the upcoming poll. Elections to 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held in a single phase on May 7. The BJP had won all these seats in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.