Keshubhai Patel was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and again from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1960s, Janata Party in 1970s, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1980. He left the BJP in 2012 and formed the Gujarat Parivartan Party. He was elected from Visavadar in the 2012 state assembly election but resigned in 2014 due to ill health and merged his party with BJP. He was awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan posthumously in 2021.

The 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of Gujarat in December 2012 for all 182 members of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Incumbent Chief Minister Narendra Modi of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), in power since 2002, was running for his fourth term. The leader of the opposition was Shaktisinh Gohil of the Indian National Congress (INC).