Gandhinagar, Mar 26 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced its candidate list for the upcoming bypolls to the five Assembly seats in Gujarat.

The bypolls are scheduled on May 7 coinciding with the Lok Sabha elections. The party has nominated the candidates for the seats which fell vacant after resignations from the state Assembly.

Dr. C.J. Chavda will contest Vijapur seat; Arjun Modhwadia, Porbandar; Arvind Ladani, Manavdar constituency; Chirag Patel, Khambhat; and Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, Vaghodia.

The political landscape in Gujarat saw a significant shift when Arjun Modhwadia, a veteran of 40 years with the Congress, resigned. He stated that he was ending his association with the party to "escape the feeling of suffocation".

Except Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, who resigned from the Assembly as an independent MLA and joined the BJP, all the rest four candidates, previously served as Congress MLAs. Their resignations triggered the need for bypolls to these constituencies.

The opposition, primarily the Congress party, has yet to announce its candidates for these by-elections. Whether the Congress will contest all the seats or form an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) remains uncertain.