Gujarat polls: AAP fields its CM face Gadhvi from Jam Khambhaliya seat

Gadhvi, 40, AAP national joint general secretary, was announced AAP’s CM face earlier this month.

Gadhvi hails from Pipaliya village in Jamkhambhaliya block of Devbhumi Dwarka district in coastal Saurashtra and belongs to the community of other backward classes. Youngest of three siblings from a “small farmer family”, Gadhvi began his career as a journalist focusing on farm issues and unemployment. In 2015, he joined VTV-Gujarati as a studio anchor, conducting debates on his show “Mahamanthan” that made him hugely popular.

The party has declared its candidates on 179 out of 182 assembly seats. It is yet to announce candidates from three seats — Visnagar and Kheralu in Mehsana district and Mansa in Gandhinagar district.

In Dwarka, a stronghold of Pabubha Manek since 1990, the AAP has declared Nakum Boghabhai as its candidate. For the first three terms, Manek was an Independent candidate before briefly joining the Congress when he was elected in 2002. Since 2007, he has been winning the seat for the BJP. In 2019, the Gujarat High Court cancelled his election in 2017 for submitting a defective nomination form. The Congress has declared Malu Kandoria from the seat.

At present, Khambhaliya seat is held by Congress MLA Vikram Madam, who won in 2017 against the BJP’s Kalu Chavda by a margin of 6.96 per ent (11,046) votes. Khambhaliya was a BJP seat from 2007 to 2014, after which the Congress gained control in the 2014 by-elections. This time, too, the Congress has fielded Madam from the seat, while BJP candidate is Mulu Bera.

Last month, Gadhvi launched a yatra — “Bas, havey parivartan joiyiye (enough, now we need a change)’ — from Bhimrana village in Okhamandal taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka. It will conclude on November 20, after covering 67 constituencies.

Gadhvi’s work as journalist brought focus on a 150-crore illegal deforestation scam in Dang and Kaprada districts, making the state government take action. His reporting on farmers’ issues helped earn him a substantial following in rural areas.

Gadhvi joined the AAP on June 14, 2021, in the presence of Arvind Kejriwal and was later made party’s national joint general secretary. He was chosen as the CM face after he got 73 per cent of the votes of the total 16,48,500 responses received.

The second phase of Gujarat elections will be held on December 5 and the results will be declared on December 8.