Fourteen candidates will compete for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat. Monday served as the final day for withdrawing nomination forms for the upcoming elections, but no candidates opted to do so. Bijal Shah, the Vadodara district election officer, and collector confirmed that no candidates withdrew their nominations by the 3 pm deadline.
Three of the 14 valid candidates are running on behalf of recognized national parties: the BJP, Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Candidates from the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), the Right to Recall Party, the Hind Rashtra Sangh, the Satyawadi Rakshak Party, and seven independent candidates complete the list of contenders.
After scrutinizing the 34 nominations from 22 candidates received on Saturday, the district election officials approved the candidacies of 14 candidates while rejecting eight. Two of those rejected were substitute candidates for the primary BJP and Congress nominees. Technicalities led to the rejection of four independents’ forms as well as those of candidates from the Janseva Driver Party and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh.