Vadodara: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded only 16 sitting councillors in its list of 76 candidates for the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) elections, dropping a majority of incumbents, including several top office-bearers.Those denied tickets include the mayor, deputy mayor and standing committee chairman from the previous term, along with corporators considered strong in their respective wards.The list was announced just hours before the nomination deadline, after days of speculation that many sitting councillors — including prominent names — would be dropped.Of the 60 councillors denied tickets, two — Ashish Joshi and Parul Patel — have already switched to the Congress.Among the prominent leaders dropped are former mayors Pinky Shah and Nilesh Rathod, former standing committee chairman Sheetal Mistry, former deputy mayor Chirag Barot, Kalpesh Patel alias Jay Ranchhod, Manoj Patel alias Manchha, Manish Pagar and Alpesh Limbachiya.Limbachiya had earlier been embroiled in a controversy over a defamatory letter targeting Rathod. Though he was later reinstated in the party, both leaders were denied tickets this time.The BJP has, however, fielded former Congress councillor Saraswati Desai and included six former councillors who had represented the party prior to the last VMC term.Discontent surfaced within the party, with some aspirants from Ward 18 staging protests at the party office in Karelibaug.Kin of veterans feature in poll listThe candidate list also features several relatives of veteran party leaders, indicating a continued reliance on political lineage. Upendra Prajapati, son of former mayor Dalsukh Prajapati, who recently joined the BJP after quitting the Congress, has been fielded from Ward 11. Nidhi Patel, daughter of BJP veteran and former councillor Nitin Patel, whose wife Jyoti Patel served as a councillor in the last term, has also been given a ticket.Former state minister Jitendra Sukhadia’s son, Hiren Sukhadia, will contest from Ward 17. Shrirang Ayre, son of Rajesh Ayre — a political heavyweight who has won elections as an Independent, from the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and later from the BJP — is among the 16 sitting councillors retained by the party.Other candidates with political lineage include Pavan Hemnani, son of former councillor Parshotam Hemnani; Krunal Patel, son of former councillor Pravin Patel; and Dixita Ray, daughter-in-law of former councillor Kanchan Ray, all of whom have been fielded by the party.
