the bjps candidate from viramgam hardik patel had gathered a crowd of 20 firs after leading legions of patidars in the agitation to demand the obc quota he even spent nine months in prison on sedition chargeshardik quit the congress and joined the bjp now his sway over voters seems to have subdued the seriousness of the firs he is a wellknown publicly accepted leader and has been in a responsible position attached to social service the party has said to justify hardiks selection this statement was published in the media recently in line with the direction of the election commission of india eciin this poll season political parties have been specifically ordered to clarify their decisions in selecting candidates with criminal records acting on the directives of the supreme court to highlight criminal charges faced by candidates the eci had told political parties to explain to the public through mass media why other candidates could not be foundthe ecis instruction was ostensibly a tool to deter parties from fielding candidates named in firs but parties are willing to endure some shame in their pursuit of nominees with winnabilityalpesh thakor another congress turncoat in the bjp has also had the firs against him disregarded in the winnability scheme of things of the six firs againstthakor five were filed for his role in agitations and three when he was with the congress now he has the bjp ticket for gandhinagar souththe bjps babu jamnadas patel seeking his seventh term fromdaskroi is charged with cheating forgery and criminal conspiracy the party says the accusations have no substance his popularity is cited as the reason for picking him over any untainted candidate the bjp uses that defence for other nominees who have cases against them they include sitting minister parshottam solanki jamalpurkhadia candidate bhushan bhatt shehra candidate jethabhai bharwad and porbandar candidate babu bokhiriathe congresss rationalization for its choices is not different from the bjps the congresss arjun modhwadia will take on bokhiria in porbandar modhwadia who is fighting a defamation case is hailed by his party for his seniority merit and social service the twoterm bjp mla from mahuva kanubhai kalsaria is now the congress candidate the congress says that he was falsely implicated in two casesthe aap a relative newbie in the gujarat poll game has mastered the old expedience its thakkarbapanagar candidate sanjay mori is accused of trespassing and assault he is a man who will fight for justice the party says the party says that it did not find any other candidate with similar stature and zeal the aaps vadodara city candidate jigar solanki has cases filed against him for recording a video at a police station and for protesting in violation of a government notification he is the most deserving candidate the aap says