Dalit Rights Activist Jignesh Mevani to Contest Gujarat Polls From Vadgam as Independent Candidate

Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch leader and lawyer Jignesh Mevani will contest the Gujarat Assembly elections as an independent candidate from Vadgam constituency in Banaskantha district.

The seat is reserved for member of Scheduled Caste.

Jignesh will file nomination papers today. The process of filing nomination papers for the second phase of the polls will end this evening.

"Yes, I am going to contest elections to take the battle, we were fighting on streets, to the house," Jignesh told NewsClick before filing the nomination papers.

He claimed that he has "tremendous" support in Vadgam, which will emerge as a "new centre" of the Gujarat politics.

The announcement came hours after the Congress released its third list of 76 candidates for the second phase of the crucial elections in the western state. 

The opposition party has not fielded anyone from Vadgam. There are 20 more seats where the Congress has not given tickets to anyone.

Jignesh, who hit headlines after he led Dalit pride march from Ahmedabad to Una to protest the thrashing of Dalit skinners from the Saurashtra region were attacked by cow vigilantes, had met Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and announced his support to the grand old party. 

However, He had clarified that he was not joining the Congress but stressed that he along with all Dalit organisations and activists would ensure the defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Gujarat is slated to elect a new house of 182 members in two phases on December 9 and 14. The counting will be held on December 18. 

While 89 seats of Saurashtra and South Gujarat region are going to polls in the first phase, the remaining 93 seats, including Vadgam, in central and northern regions of the state would go for polls in the second phase.

Unable to bear the election expenses, Jignesh - who has pledged not to take funds from corporate houses - has sought funds from people through crowd funding. He is looking to raise Rs 20 lakh from the citizens.

“We are a one-and-a-half-year-old Dalit rights group which has never received funds from any political party, corporates, NGOs or funding agencies. Our organisation, namely the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, works and survives with people's contributions, the motto being ‘Janta ki ladayi, janta ke paiso se’ (the people’s fight through the people’s money),” wrote Mevani in an open letter appealing for funds.

The Manch plans to organise 12 public meetings across the state and a road show culminating in a grand rally at Ahmedabad ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

Meanwhile, the crowd-funding platform BitGiving has closed the campaign account of the RDAM leader after an FIR was lodged against him by the Gujarat police and 250 others.

The campaign went live on September 28 and he managed to raise Rs 50,000 in half a day. But the next day, BitGiving informed him that his account has been suspended after he was booked by the police.