Who will be the BJP candidate from Gandhinagar LS seat?

Suspense continues over the BJP's candidate from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, which is currently represented by party veteran L.K. Advani.

91-year-old Advani has won six times from Gandhinagar, considered to be the BJP's stronghold. 

While the party's state parliamentary board has finalised a couple of names on all the seats, highly placed sources told THE WEEK that no name was discussed in the case of Gandhinagar.

Even as no one put up a representation to contest from Gandhinagar seat, there were rumors floating that party president Amit Shah would throw his hat in the ring. However, there is no representation in writing before the state parliamentary board. 

Once Shah's name started doing the rounds, his arch rival Anandiben Patel, MP Governor, couldn't remain silent. Posters in her support came up when she was in the state for a couple of days. She held meetings with her supporters. However, Anandiben and her daughter Aanar Patel publicly said they wouldn't contest the polls.

Speculations are also rife that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might contest from Gandhinagar, should he decide to go for a second seat. In 2014, he had vacated Vadodara seat after winning. 

Gujarat BJP spokesman Bharat Pandya said that a decision on all 26 seats will be taken by the party's central parliamentary board. 

Party sources said that, so far, Advani has not informed the party that he would like to seek re-election. The party hasn't approached him to contest either. 

In 2014, Advani won convincingly with a huge margin. However, his daughter Pratibha did face hostility in some assembly segments during campaigning. Advani has hardly been seen in his constituency, which is managed by a network set up by dedicated party workers.