Alpesh Thakor will contest the Gujarat bypolls from Radhanpur

Former Congress MLAs, including Alpesh Thakor, were among the six candidates named by BJP for bypolls in Gujarat. The party also announced names of its 38 nominees for assembly by-elections to be held across several states on October 21.

Mr Thakor, who was elected on a Congress ticket in 2017 and resigned as MLA to join the BJP, will contest from Radhanpur, the seat he had won. Another Congress defector, Dhavalsinh Narendrasinh Zala, will contest from Bayad on BJP ticket.

The central election committee of the BJP finalised the names, it said in a statement.

Other candidates include Jivrajbhai Patel from Tharad, Ajmalbhai Thakor from Kheralu, Jagdishbhai Patel from Amraiwadi and Jigneshbhai Sevak from Lunawada.

Of the 38 Assembly seats, 10 are in Uttar Pradesh, six in Gujarat, five in Kerala, four in Assam, two each in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Sikkim and one each in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana.

Bypolls will be held for 51 Assembly seats on October 21, along with the state elections in Haryana and Maharashtra.

The BJP is likely to name the candidates for the remaining seats soon, it said.