The BJP fielded Payal Kulkarni instead of giving another chance to sitting MLA Balram Thawani. Some BJP workers in the area have expressed unhappiness over her candidature as they believe that she is married to a non-Sindhi and hence is no longer a member of the community.
The BJP’s youngest candidate, Payal Kukrani, 30, is an anaesthetist. She is the daughter of Manoj Kukrani, one of the 16 convicts in the Naroda Patiya riots case