Ahmedabad, Nov 17: Six Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs have decided to resign from the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, as well as from the primary membership of the party, bringing to fore the dissension in the party.

The MLAs, who will be resigning are -- Dhiru Gajera (Surat), Bechar Bhadani, Bavku Unghad, Balu Tanti, Gopal Dhua and Narendrasinh Jadeja.

Gajera, Bhadani, Unghad and Tanti were recently suspended from the party for dissident activities, while BJP is yet to take action against the other two.

The first phase of polling for 87 constituencies will take place on December 11.
The remaining 95 seats will go to polls on December 16.

Elaborate arrangements have been made by the Election Commission to conduct polls fairly.

In the run up to the two-phase polling, political activities have started gaining momentum, particularly after the Tehelka sting operations related to 2002 post Godhra riots, with the BJP and the Congress trading charges and counter-charges against each other.

Counting of votes for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will take place on December 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party managed to win 127 seats, while the Congress party was able to win only 51 seats in the 2002 Gujarat Assembly polls. The Janata Dal (United) and independents won two seats each. (ANI)