Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat: Amit Shah eyes victory in BJP's bastion, to face Congress' Sonal Patel

New Delhi [India], May 3 : The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, one of the 26 Lok Sabha seats and one of the prominent BJP bastions, will go to the polls on May 7 in the third phase of the elections. The seat will witness the contest between Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress' Sonal Patel.
Amit Shah, eyeing a second term from Gandhinagar, registered a massive victory here after defeating CJ Chavda with a victory margin of 5.55 lakh votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Chavda had contested the 2019 polls on a Congress ticket but later joined the BJP.
The Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat comprises seven assembly segments: Gandhinagar North, Kalol, Sanand, Ghatlodia, Vejalpur, Naranpura, and Sabarmati.
The BJP has been unefeated in this seat since 1989.
After filing the nomination on April 19, Home Minister Amit Shah said that it was a matter of pride for him to contest from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, as it had been represented by Bharatiya Janata Party stalwarts in the past.
"It is a matter of pride for me that this seat was represented by LK Advani, Atal ji, and the seat where Narendra Modi himself is a voter. I have been an MLA and MP in this seat for 30 years. The people of this region have given me immense love. I was a small-time booth worker and now I have reached Parliament from this constituency. Development projects worth Rs 22,000 crore have been completed in the last five years in Gandhinagar," Amit Shah said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited Gujarat BJP's office in Gandhinagar.The PM visited the party headquarters of the state on Wednesday night after addressing an election rally in Himmatnagar town of neighbouring Sabarkantha district.
All 26 seats in Gujarat go to the polls in a single phase on May 7.The BJP whitewashed the Congress in the 2019 and 2014 general elections by winning all 26 constituencies in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Home Minister said that he was confident that the NDA would cross the 400 seat mark and go on to lay the foundation for Viksit Bharat.
"In this election, the whole country is excited to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third time with 400 'paar'...Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, the country has gained glory in the entire world...The 10 years that the people of the country gave were spent in filling the holes made by the UPA government and these next 5 years to be the years of laying the foundation for building a Viksit Bharat...I appeal to people to vote and make the lotus blossom everywhere with a huge majority and make us successful in achieving the target of crossing 400 seats," Amit Shah said.
Voting for the remaining phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The last general elections in 2019 were also held in seven phases.