Cong releases first list for Gujarat local body polls

The Congress on Monday releasedits first list of 142 candidates for various wards in fivemunicipal corporations, except Ahmedabad, for the local bodypolls scheduled to be held in two phases later this month.

The list contains the names for different wards inSurat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar MunicipalCorporations.

Among the 142 candidates, the Congress has declaredthe names of 52 contestants for Surat civic body, 20 forVadodara, 22 for Rajkot, 27 for Jamnagar, and 21 for Bhavnagarcivic bodies.

The BJP has not yet declared its list of candidatesfor the polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come up with four listsof hundreds of candidates for the upcoming local body polls,where it is contesting for the first time on all the seats.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) hadearlier announced to contest the upcoming elections to localbodies in Gujarat on select seats, which would be its maidenforay into the state politics.

The local body elections are scheduled to be held intwo phases on February 21 and 28.

Elections to six municipal corporations will be heldon February 21 and that for municipalities, districtpanchayats and taluka panchayats on February 28.

Results will be declared on February 23 for the firstphase and on March 2 for the second phase.