Gujarat polls: Alpesh Thakor files nomination from Gandhinagar South

Ahmedabad: OBC leader Alpesh Thakor on Thursday filed his nomination as a BJP candidate from Gandhinagar South Assembly constituency in Gujarat.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel accompanied him as he filed his papers on the last day of filing of nomination forms for the second phase of the Assembly elections.

Thakor, who had lost from Radhanpur in North Gujarat in a by-election in 2019 on the BJP ticket, has been fielded from Gandhinagar South this time.

“I am confident that with the support of our workers, the BJP will win massively in the state,” he told reporters afterwards.

The BJP will take the state forward in the coming days, Thakor added.

Chief minister Patel said the state has achieved a lot under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

“That is the reason everyone can say 'I have made this Gujarat'," he said.

Thakor rose to prominence as a leader of Other Backward Classes (OBC) when he opposed the demand that the Patidar community be given reservation in the OBC quota.

He joined the Congress before the 2017 elections and won from Radhanpur. In 2019 he left the Congress and joined the BJP, but lost in the byelection.