New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS): Congress MLA-turned-BJP leader Alpesh Thakor will fight Gujarat assembly by polls on BJP ticket. The BJP has fielded him from Kheralu assembly constituency.

BJP working President JP Nadda late on Sunday night released six names for Gujarat bypoll. Earlier in the day, the party released 32 names from 13 states for state bypolls.

Along with Thakor, Dhavalsinh Zhala has also been given a party ticket from Bayad constituency. Thakore and Zhala joined BJP this July, resting months of speculations. Thakor and Zhala joined the ruling party in the presence of Gujarat BJP President Jitu Vaghani. Both of them had resigned as MLAs on July 5, apparently after voting against Congress candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypolls.

Thakor, the 43-year-old ex-MLA from Radhanpur in Patan district, had expressed his discomfiture in the Congress, which he had joined in 2017 just ahead of the assembly polls that year.

Thakor's name was okayed by the central election committee of BJP on Sunday that was attended by PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.