Ahmedabad, Aug 2 (IANS): The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday announced its first list of 10 candidates for the Gujarat Assembly elections to be held later this year.

State party president Gopal Italia announced the list. Three tickets each have been given to Patidars and Other Backward Class, two to Dalits, one each to tribal and non-Gujarati Brahmin.

Party's farmer leader Sagar Rabari will contest from Becharaji (Mehsana district); Bhemabhai Chaudhary (Deodar constituency- Banaskantha district); Vashram Sagathiya (Rajkot Rural); Shivlal Barasia (Rajkot South); Jagmal Vala (Somnath- Gir- Somnath); Arjun Rathwa (Chhotaudepur); Ramdhaduk (Kamrej- Surat); Rajendra Solanki (Bardoli - Surat, and Omprakash Tiwari (Naroda- Ahmedabad city).

It is going to be a tough election for Sagar Rabari on the Becharaji seat because caste equations do not support the OBC candidate here. Koli Thakor community, an OBC sub caste, is influential in this constituency.

As a farmer leader too, his influence is very little in the area, the seat is dominated by Kadva-Patidars, Koli Thakor and Kshatriyas.

In the last Assembly elections, Sagathiya lost the election on the Congress symbol with a margin of just 2,000 votes, that too because of internal fighting.

Shivlal Basaria lost the corporation elections in 2021. In the past, he was one of the trustees of Khodaldham trust, and if the BJP denies ticket to the sitting MLA Govindbhai Patel on Rajkot South seat, and Leuva Patel unitedly support Shivlal then he can make the contest a triangular one.