The BJP is leading in all the 26 seats in Gujarat.

The BJP had made a clean sweep of the 26 seats in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The state, the home to both Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, is likely to vote on similar lines in Lok Sabha elections in 2019. Anti-incumbency could be a factor, which is why the BJP has fielded fresh faces from Banaskantha, Patan, Mehsana and Chhota Udaipur.

Illustration by Rahul Awasthi

Mehsana was the hotbed of the protests for Patel reservation that threw Hardik Patel in the limelight in 2015-16. The allegiance of the Patels may have shifted away from the BJP in the aftermath of the agitation. Farmers in the state, who are not getting the right MSP, may vote against the ruling party.