Legislative Assembly elections were held in Gujarat from 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect 182 members of 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 8 December 2022.
The Bharatiya Janata Party won a landslide victory of 156 seats, the most ever won by any party in Gujarat's history. No other political party could win enough seats to be recognised as official opposition in the state. The Indian National Congress fell to its lowest count in the state for 3 decades, and the Aam Aadmi Party gained five seats.
The tenure of 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 18 February 2022. The previous assembly elections were held in December 2017. After the election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the state government, with Vijay Rupani becoming Chief Minister.
Vijay Rupani resigned from Chief Minister post on 11 September 2021 and he was succeeded by Bhupendra Patel as the new Chief Minister.
Since the last assembly elections, several bypolls were held, most of which were won by the BJP, taking their strength from 99 to 112 seats.
BJP swept the 2021 Gujarat local body elections by winning all corporation and district panchayats and Indian National Congress (Congress) gained majority in one municipality and 18 taluka panchayats. On one side BJP increased its strength and on the other side Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made significant inroads to be considered as a contender in the state.
In 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, BJP lost in some districts of Saurashtra region due to farmer and Patidar agitation; notably in Amreli and Gir Somnath where it lost all seats to Congress. However, when panchayat elections were held in Amreli along with other districts, BJP gained a two-thirds majority translating to a lead on all five assembly segments of Amreli, while AAP gaining in rural Gujarat indicated that Gujarat is heading towards a three-cornered contest.
In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections, BJP got a majority by winning 41 out of 44 wards while Congress got two seats. AAP won one seat and was the third largest party in terms of vote share, which indicated increasing acceptance of AAP as a third alternative. Congress dubbed the AAP as a 'B team' of the BJP for by dividing the anti-BJP votes, which ultimately favoured the BJP.
The election schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India on 3 November 2022.
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Congress and NCP announced an alliance to contest the election together on 11 November 2022.
In May 2022, AAP announced alliance with Bharatiya Tribal Party for the election. However, the alliance was called off in September 2022.
AAP released the first list of 10 candidates on 2 August 2022, the second list of 9 candidates on 18 August, the third list of 10 candidates on 7 September, the fourth list of 12 candidates on 6 October, the fifth list of 12 candidates on 16 October 2022, the sixth list of 20 candidates on 20 October 2022, the seventh list of 13 candidates on 28 October 2022, the eight list of 22 candidates on 1 November 2022, the ninth list of 10 candidates on 3 November 2022, the tenth list of 21 candidates on 5 November 2022, the eleventh list of 12 candidates on 7 November 2022, the twelfth list of 7 candidates on 8 November 2022, the thirteenth list of 12 candidates on 9 November 2022, the fourteenth list of 10 candidates on 10 November 2022 and the fifteenth list of 3 candidates on 12 November 2022. On 13 November 2022, AAP released the sixteenth list of 2 candidates including their Chief Ministerial candidate, Isudan Gadhvi contesting from Khambhalia constituency. AAP released the seventeenth list of 4 candidates on 15 November 2022. AAP candidate from Surat East withdrew his nomination on 16 November. AAP candidate from Abdasa retired his campaign in favour of BJP candidate on 28 November 2022.
Congress released the first list of 43 candidates on 4 November 2022, the second list of 46 candidates on 10 November 2022, the third list of 7 candidates on 11 November 2022, the fourth list of 9 candidates on 12 November 2022, the fifth list of 6 candidates and the sixth list of 33 candidates on 13 November 2022 and the seventh list of 37 candidates on 16 November 2022. NCP announced 3 candidates in alliance with Congress. NCP candidate from Devgadhbariya withdrew his nomination on 21 November 2022.
BJP released the first list of 160 candidates on 10 November 2022 and the second list of 6 candidates on 12 November 2022. BJP candidate from Wadhwan refused to contest election and was replaced in the third list on 13 November 2022. BJP released the fourth list of 12 candidates on 14 November 2022, the fifth list of 3 candidates on 16 November 2022 and the sixth list of 1 candidate on 17 November 2022. <section begin="Candidates"/> <section end="Candidates"/>
Following the death of 50 people in 2022 Gujarat toxic liquor deaths, alcohol and drug consumption became an issue in the election. Congress demanded a probe by the sitting high court judge in the illegal liquor trade in Gujarat. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi publicly asked which "ruling forces" are "giving protection to these mafia". AAP state president Gopal Italia had demanded an investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the incident.
In September 2021, 2,988.22 kilograms (6,587.9 lb) of heroin was seized from two containers which arrived at Mundra Port, from Bandar Abbas in Iran. Heroin was disguised as a consignment of semi-processed talc stones originating from Afghanistan. The incident occurred again in May and July 2022, where 52 kg and 75 kg of drugs were seized from the port respectively. Notably, the Mundra Port was owned by Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group.
The Congress criticized the BJP-led government over their silence right after the September 2021 drug bust and urged the Supreme Court to open a probe, alleging that a drug syndicate was operating from the port. It was also concerned that the drugs were sourced from Afghanistan, saying the illegal sale of these drugs might be used against India by terrorists. In May, when drugs were again seized at the Mundra Port, Congress again criticized the government asking why drugs were repeatedly found in the coastline of Gujarat.
AAP also registered their protest on the issue of drug seizure.
Gujarat ATS after seized 350 kg heroin drugs said that since Gujarat being on coast has become a preferred route for drug smuggling, the State and federal agencies have seized drug cargos upon landing.
The written examination for recruitment of head clerks was held on 12 December 2021 in which with 88,000 aspirants had appeared for 186 vacancies. The exam was conducted by Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB). INC alleged that Asit Vora, a BJP leader served as the chairman of GSSSB is mastermind behind this. A total of 36 people from Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Sabarkantha were arrested in the case, including alleged mastermind Tushar Mer.
AAP had alleged that before the examination, the question paper was leaked and sold at cost of Rs 8-12 lakh. Later on Gujarat government annulled the exam and announced re-examination scheduled for March 2022. 500 supporters of AAP staged a protest outside BJP, Gandhinagar Office demanding the removal of BJP leader Asit Vora from the post of chairman of the GSSSB. BJP workers clashed with AAP protestors and the police resorted to lathicharge. BJP leader filed police case against AAP. Ninety-three AAP members were arrested including 28 women. AAP president Italia, AAP women's wing and youth wing presidents were among those arrested. Italia and other AAP leaders spent 10 days in prison before getting bail.
AAP highlighted the rampant corruption leading to paper leaks for the examinations conducted by the state government being reported since 2015. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal compared it with the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and called recruitment exams in Gujarat as Maha Vyapam Scam (great Vyapam Scam). AAP promised to create laws that would punish the paper leaking offence with ten years of punishment.
Congress slammed the government over the paper leaks for the recruitment examinations. They also held a mock assembly in Gandhinagar, highlighting the plight of thousands of job-seekers who had taken the now-cancelled head clerk recruitment exam. All Congress MLAs and party leaders took part in the mock assembly. Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Sukhram Rathwa urged the Gujarat government to conduct a judicial inquiry through a sitting HC judge on the series of exam paper leaks, saying it amounts to cheating the youth of Gujarat. He also alleged that the RSS and the BJP were behind the paper leaks. and Congress MLAs protested against the paper leaks in the assembly, standing from their seats and displaying posters in connection with the leak, causing the assembly to be adjourned for 15 minutes. The Congress also staged a protest at Koba, Gandhinagar demanding Asit Vora to resign.
In March, thousands of farmers across Gujarat were protesting at their taluka and district headquarters demanding adequate power supply to save standing crops.
As per a survey conducted by ABP News, unemployment was the biggest issue for people in Gujarat. However, as per the quarterly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Gujarat has among the lowest rates of unemployment in urban areas. As per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) estimates - AprilâÂÂJune 2022 bulletin, unemployment rate in Gujarat was 3.3%, lesser than the national average.
There were four lakh unemployed people registered with the state's Employment Exchange Department in March 2021, out of which 3,85,506 were literate and just five percent were semi-skilled. According to state budget figures released in March 2022, there are 3,46,436 educated and 17,816 semi-literate unemployed youth in Gujarat that have been registered with various employment exchanges and the government of Gujarat was able to give jobs to only 0.35% of unemployed youth over the last 2 years.
About 700 government schools in Gujarat function with only one teacher each. As many as 8,500 other primary schools have only two teachers each. According to a top study by the Annual Status of Education Report 2014, only 9.8% of the children in rural Gujarat studying in class V could read English sentences, compared to the all-India average of 24%. It was the second lowest amount of class V students able to read English compared to the rural areas of all the other states.
According to government statistics, Gujarat had a high annual dropout rate of 24% in secondary classes (grade 9-10) compared to other states.
In April, the Congress held protests in several cities throughout Gujarat against rising fuel prices and inflation. In Amraiwadi, Congress workers brought empty LPG cylinders and a hard paper cutout of a fuel dispenser during their protest against fuel and cooking gas prices. They also held protests in several other cities where they burnt effigies, held protest sit-ins and even clashed with the police. Around a dozen Congress workers were then detained by the police for burning effigies and protesting without permission. On 16 May, Congress workers again held a protest against price rise in Rajkot, led by Rajkot city president Arjun Khatariya. This led to 30 Congress workers being detained by the police, including Khatariya.
Aam Aadmi Party, Gujarat started its election campaign for Gujarat on 2 April with a Padayatra. In May 2022, AAP declared its alliance with Bharatiya Tribal Party for the assembly elections. However, the alliance was called off in September 2022.
On 2 August 2022, Kejriwal addressed a public rally in Veraval, Saurashtra and announced "guarantees." AAP has announced Rozgaar Guarantee Yatra in three districts of North Gujarat namely Patan, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha. The campaign would appeal to the unemployed youth. On 2 September Kejriwal announced five guarantees for farmers in Devbhumi Dwarka district.
In the months leading to the election, several protests were held in the state where AAP supported the protestors.
Isudan Gadhvi was announced as the Chief Minister candidate on 4 November 2022.
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On 20 September, while flagging off e-bikes for Namo Kisan Panchayat programme in Gujarat, BJP National President J. P. Nadda listed out the welfare schemes for farmers rolled out by the Central government schemes.
12 Union ministers, including Smriti Irani, Kiren Rijiju, Giriraj Singh, and others, will start their poll campaign in Gujarat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held roadshows in Surat and Bhavnagar on 29 September 2022.
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel along with Modi held a rally in Rajkot on 19 October 2022.
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Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched the party's campaign in Gujarat on 5 September 2022. On the same day, he visited the Ahmedabad and attended the "Parivartan Sankalp Sammelan" where he criticized the BJP government and promised free electricity, farm loan waiver up to â¹3 lakh, 10 lakh jobs, compensation to families affected by COVID-19 pandemic, LPG cylinder for â¹500, free education for girls, 3,000 new English medium schools and subsidy to dairy farmers.
The Congress-led a state-wide "bandh" on September 10 in Gujarat as a protest against price rise and unemployment. They led demonstrations in Bharuch and other parts of Gujarat as well regarding price rise and unemployment.
On 22 September, the Congress launched the "Yuva Parivartan Yatra" (Youth for Change March) in Gujarat from Ambaji, which passed through several towns and cities across 27 districts of the state. It was held in two stages from Ambaji to Umargam and Somanth to Suigam. The Yatra travelled more than 2100 kilometres across the state. The Congress distributed door-to-door "Vachan Patras" or promise letters throughout the yatra, which contains 8 promises of the Congress and 4-point failures of the BJP government. It aims to deliver about 1.55 crore (15.5 million) of such promise letters before the elections. The first stage of the yatra moved throughout the tribal belt, where it focused especially on the tribal youth. The second stage of the yatra went through the Saurashtra-Kutch region.
On 28 September, the Congress held a day-long yatra in Saurashtra, starting from Rajkot and concluding at Sidsar, Junagadh. The Yatra was received by Patidar leader Naresh Patel at Ma Khodiyar Temple, who welcomed the rally with 500 vehicles at the temple in Rajkot.
In recent months, many protests have been held in Gujarat, in which Congress backed the protesters.
On 31 October. the Congress started the Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in Gujarat, which covered 5 zones of the state, each led by senior leaders of the party, namely Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Digvijay Singh, Kamal Nath, and Mukul Wasnik. These programs covered 175 out of the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat. The yatra included 145 public meetings and 95 rallies, to establish "direct contact" with 45 million (4.5 crore) people. More than 1 million (10 lakh) party workers were expected to join the yatra. It covered more than 5,400 kilometres over a week.
On 6 November, the Congress released a 22-point "charge sheet" against the BJP-led state government of Gujarat. The last three decades of Gujarat have been marred by "continuous anti-people governance and mismanagement," the Congress said in the 'charge sheet'. Some highlighted points in the chargesheet were the recent Morbi bridge collapse, the release of the 11 convicted in the Bilkis Bano rape case. It also claimed that GDP rose 18-23% annually under the previous governments of Congress, whereas the state recorded a GDP decline of 1.35% in 2020-21 under the BJP government.
On 21 November, Rahul Gandhi addressed 2 rallies in Gujarat, in Surat and in Rajkot. In his speeches at the rallies he criticized the handling of the Morbi bridge collapse and claimed that the Gujarat government was trying to take away tribals' rights.
After Surat AAP Pradesh Pramukh Sorathiya was attacked on August 31, Italia posted a video message in which he allegedly made defamatory remarks, in which Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat President Gopal Italia called Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi Drugs Sanghvi while BJP state president C. R. Patil was called ex bootlegger, following which an FIR was also registered against Gopal Italia at Umra police station.
Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of trying to "crush" the AAP in the name of fighting corruption as they feared of getting defeated in the election. He said that the Modi government was trying to implicate AAP leaders in false corruption cases as the BJP is "not able to digest the growing popularity of the AAP in Gujarat". He accused that the AAP's growing influence in Gujarat has rattled BJP and that "the prime minister's advisor Hiren Joshi has warned several TV channels owners and their editors not to give coverage to AAP party in Gujarat, threatening them with dire consequences".
On 11 September 2022, AAP alleged that the Ahmedabad Police raided its data management center in Ahmedabad, which was denied by the local police. AAP said the ruling party was "extremely rattled" by the "immense support" received by AAP in Gujarat.
AAP national joint secretary Isudan Gadhvi alleged that the BJP had been preventing AAP spokesperson from debate by threatening TV Media. He alleged that in order to prevent a rally by Kejriwal in Vadodara, BJP threatened the owners of 13 venues and forced them to cancel programmes. Kejriwal said that stopping the opposition parties from holding election programmes was wrong for the ruling party BJP.
AAP's candidate for Bardoli, Rajendra Solanki gave a statement to the Surat Rural Police, admitting that he received Rs 20 lakh in hawala after the said money was found in his car. The statement eventually led to the Gujarat Police busting a poll-related hawala racket in which 30 people outside the state were being hired by the AAP for distributing hawala money during the assembly elections. An income tax probe revealed that the AAP sent Rs 20 crore in hawala money to Gujarat for poll-related uses in the month of October 2022. According to income tax officials, as much as Rs 50 lakh of hawala money was sent daily.
The BJP-led Gujarat government has proposed to form a committee to explore implementation of a Uniform Civil Code ahead of elections, which was met with criticism from other parties.
The famous cricketer and husband of Rivaba Jadeja, BJP candidate from Jamnagar North, Ravindra Jadeja's father and sister Anirudhsinh Jadeja and Naynaba Jadeja were seen campaigning for Congress in Gujarat.
On 21 September 2022, 15 Congress MLAs including Jignesh Mevani were suspended from the Gujarat Assembly for a day following chaos with Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva, a Congress leader, demanding a special half-hour on various issues, mainly about agitating government employees, farmers, anganwadi workers and ex-servicemen. When assembly speaker Nimaben Acharya refused Rathva's demand, Congress MLAs shouted slogans and raised placards against the BJP government. The following day another 10 Congress MLAs were suspended for a day (from the assembly) over chaos, as they shouted slogans demanding a discussion on the OBC reservation, after speaker Acharya again declined a discussion. Many MLAs raised slogans and placards such as raised "Give OBCs, 27 per cent reservation" and "We demand caste-based census".
On 21 August 2022, former state chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela launched a new party, Praja Shakti Democratic Party, with an intention to contest election. Later he backed the INC instead.
Exit polls were released after 6:30 IST on 5 December, in accordance with the end of polling in the state.
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