The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has declared Isudan Gadhvi as their chief ministerial candidate for the Gujarat assembly elections.
The announcement was made by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who said the 40-year-old Gadhvi got as many as 73 per cent votes in a poll conducted by the party. Kejriwal said the party conducted the poll by asking people to call a phone number and listen to a recorded message which asked them to choose their chief ministerial face.
Gadhvi was pitted against state party unit chief Gopal Italia, who played a key role in the Patidar community agitation.
Gadhvi is AAP's National Joint General Secretary and a member of its National Executive team.
A well-known TV journalist, Gadhvi was the former editor of VTV News and used to anchor the channel's popular news show Mahamanthan.
He hails from a farmers' family in Devbhoomi Dwarka district's Pipaliya village and belongs to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, which account for 48 per cent of the state's population.
Gadhvi told reporters that he decided to quit his job and take a plunge into politics as he was inspired by Kejriwal, who too had quit his government job to enter politics.
"Good people join politics out of compulsion, not as a hobby. We have to enter the system to clean it up. I am entering politics because I have seen the sufferings of the people of Gujarat. Even during my career as a journalist, I have always raised issues concerning farmers, unemployed youth, women, labourers and shopkeepers," he said.
Gadhvi's family members who were present at the event burst into tears while expressing their feelings.
"It is in Isudan's nature to help people. I am confident that people of Gujarat will support him," said his mother Maniben.
Gadhvi's wife Hiral Gadvhi thanked the people of Gujarat and AAP for trusting him with such an important responsibility.
Elections to the 182-member state assembly will take place over two phases on December 1 and 5, the Election Commission announced on Thursday in the backdrop of the Morbi bridge collapse four days ago.
The AAP had on Thursday announced its ninth list of 10 candidates for the Gujarat polls, taking the number of candidates declared so far to 118.
All eyes are on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as well as his party leaders who have made a high decibel entry into the field, giving voters a third option in a state that has for decades been bipolar in its politics.
AAP is stirring interest with its aggressive campaigning and long list of attractive pre-poll "guarantees".
The AAP is banking on 'welfarism', the fact that it is a new alternative and its stress on day to day people issues to woo voters.
Kejriwal has anchored his party's campaign around a slew of sops, including 300 units of free electricity per month, free education in government schools, unemployment dole, Rs 1,000 allowance to women and monthly stipend to new lawyers.
The party began campaigning much ahead of the BJP and other parties.
The 10-year-old outfit has also left other parties far behind as far as announcement of candidates are concerned.
The BJP has 111 seats and the Congress 62 in the current assembly. The NCP has one, BTP two, Independent one and five seats are vacant, including three after Congress MLAs resigned.
The elections are crucial for BJP, which has won six successive terms and aims at retaining power in Modi's home state, as well as for AAP, hoping desperately that a win in Gujarat will propel it to a pan-India political force, the third state in its bag after Delhi and a victory in Punjab in March this year.
The Congress, on its part, hopes to end its 27-year stint in the Opposition but has so far been quiet with its national leaders conspicuous by their absence.
(With PTI inputs)