Popular Indian cricketer, Ravindra Jadeja's wife is all set for a political play in Gujarat as she has won a BJP ticket to contest in the upcoming assembly polls in the state. The BJP, which hopes to retain its reign in the state, released its first list of candidates on Thursday. The list which contains 160 candidates was released by Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav. 

The assembly polls in Gujarat will be held from December 1 to 5, 2022, in two phases to elect 182 members of its legislative assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be announced on December 8. The top-notch race is between the potent ruling BJP and beleaguered Congress. For nearly three decades, BJP is ruling Gujarat, which is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his loyal lieutenant, Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

This time, a lot has been at the stake for BJP, including the public outcry that erupted after the bridge collapse in Morbi, which killed hundreds of people. The state-ruling BJP government was directly targeted for the fatal fall as the bridge was reopened without a proper fitness certificate. In the midst of such challenges and facing a tough fight from Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP is chalking out various poll promises, and recently, it has launched the 'Agresar Gujarat' (Leading Gujarat) campaign.

Several national leaders including the Prime Minister have been rolling out their campaign tours across the state. Three weeks ahead of the voting, the BJP has on Thursday unveiled its first list of candidates. Among them is Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja. As per the announcement, Rivaba will be contesting in the BJP ticket from the Jamnagar North constituency. 

Rivaba Jadeja joined the BJP in 2019, three years after marrying Ravindra Jadeja. She did Mechanical Engineering at the Atmiya Institute of Technology and Science in Rajkot. As one of the star campaigners for the party in the state, it is the first time Rivaba has been given a ticket to contest in the polls and it has come at a high time when the BJP aims to win big by defeating the new and old rivals ahead of the 2024 general elections. 

By awarding the ticket to Rivaba Jadeja to contest in Jamnagar North, the BJP has dropped its current MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja. Rivaba has been flooded with the wishes from the party functionaries as they greet her for a victory. It has been reported that Rivaba is a relative of veteran Congress leader Hari Singh Solanki and she has been an active politician in the Jamnagar and Saurashtra regions due to which BJP believes that she would have a political breakthrough from Jamnagar. 

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be contesting the elections from the Ghatlodiya constituency while former Congress leader Hardik Patel will be contesting in a BJP ticket from Viramgram. Of these 160 candidates, seven leaders fought on the Congress ticket last time. The BJP has denied the opportunity for the current MLA of Morbi after the bridge collapse and the party awarded the ticket to a former MLA who reportedly jumped into the river to save the victims of the collapse. 

The BJP didn't award tickets to former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and senior party leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama as they said they won't contest the elections. Of these 160 candidates, 84 of them will be contesting during the first phase of the poll on December 1 while 76 candidates belong to the seats that will go for the poll during the second phase. In this first list, there are 14 females, 13 SC, and 24 ST candidates. 

The list has been released a day after the BJP's election committee convened a key meeting. On Wednesday, the party's committee met under the chairmanship of BJP National President JP Nadda and the attendees of the meeting include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.