BJP drops Paresh Rawal, fields HS Patel from Ahmedabad East

The BJP has replaced actor-turned-politician Paresh Rawal as its candidate for the Ahmedabad East Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat, naming Hasmukh S Patel, the MLA from Amraiwadi, in his place ahead of the 2019 general election.

The new candidate

Patel has twice won the Amraiwadi Assembly seat, in 2012 and 2017. The party dropped Rawal after the actor made clear he did not wish to contest this election.

Rawal’s reaction

Rawal tweeted that he was flying from Chennai to his constituency to support the BJP’s new candidate, and said he was confident Patel would win by a large margin and do well as an MP. He had earlier said he told the party four to five months before that he did not want to contest, while adding that the final decision lay with the party.

The wider contest

With Patel’s name, the BJP had declared candidates for 370 parliamentary seats, including 24 in Gujarat.

The Congress has fielded Gita Patel from Ahmedabad East. She is an associate of Hardik Patel in the PAAS and a prominent woman face of the Patidar quota agitation. Her candidature made it important for the BJP to field a Patel leader to keep the community, the largest bloc of voters, on its side. The Congress has so far declared candidates for 24 of Gujarat’s 26 seats.

What happened next

The 2019 Lok Sabha election was held from 11 April to 19 May and counted on 23 May 2019. The BJP won 303 of the 543 seats nationally.

Originally published on 4 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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