Stakes are high for the ruling BJP and Congress in five assembly constituencies where the bypolls were held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections on May 7. This is the third time since 2014 that several assembly constituencies in the state held bypolls with Lok Sabha election. In the past, such bypolls have thrown up a mixed bag for the two major parties. The counting of votes for the bypolls to Porbandar seat (in Porbandar district), Manavadar seat (in Junagadh district), Vaghodia seat (in Vadodara district), Khambhat seat (in Anand district) and Vijapur seat (in Mehsana district) will be take place simultaneously as votes will be counted for 25 of 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Tuesday. The counting is set to begin at 8 am. In Porbandar, the bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of veteran leader Arjun Modhwadia from Congress and his subsequent defection to the BJP. Modhwadia was not the only leader to switch sides after the state election in December 2022. Three other legislators – Manavadar MLA Arvind Ladani, Vijapur MLA CJ Chavda, and Khambhat MLA Chirag Patel – quit the Congress to join the ruling party. In Vaghodia, Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, a BJP rebel who had won the election in 2022, resigned as an MLA in January to return to the party fold. All the five candidates are now contesting from the same seats vacated after they joined the BJP. Congress, on the other hand, has pitted Raju Odedra, a 38-year-old from Congress’ volunteer force Seva Dal, against Modhwadia. It has fielded hotelier Hari Kansagra against Ladani for the Manavadar bypoll, Kanu Gohil is taking on Vaghela from Vaghodia, Mahendrasinh Parmar is challenging Chirag Patel from Khambhat and Dinesh Patel, a local industrialist, is challenging Chavda from Vijapur. “For a political party, an election - be it to a ward in a village panchayat or a to a parliamentary constituency - is important as our party goes to the people with our manifesto and report cards of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. In this context, the results of byoplls to these five assembly seats are very important for us,” BJP spokesperson Raju Dhruv says. Congress is keenly looking to regain ground. “It was our worst-ever performance in the state election in 2022. But in the course of this Lok Sabha election, we regained our fighting spirit. While the results of the bypolls to five assembly seats are not going to change the government in the state… but if we win, it will send a message that people reject those politicians who cheat them by defecting to other political parties and that there is still a place for morality in society. Positive results can boost morale of our workers,” says Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi. In the 2022 state elections, the BJP won 156 of 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly. The Congress tally shrunk to 17 while the AAP opened its account in the state by winning five seats. Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party won one seat while three seats were won by Independents. This time, the Congress and AAP are fighting the elections in the state as part of the INDIA bloc seat-sharing arrangement. The AAP has thrown its weight behind the Congress candidates in the bypolls. Further, this is for the third consecutive Lok Sabha election during which Gujarat is witnessing simultaneous assembly bypolls. In 2014, seven assembly constituencies witnessed by-elections parallel to the Lok Sabha elections. Those seats were Abdasa and Rapar in Kutch district, Visavadar, Somnath in Gir Somnath district, Lathi in Amreli district, Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district and Mandvi (ST) in Surat district. Except Rapar, where bypolls were necessitated due to the death of BJP’s incumbent MLA Vaghji Patel, byelections to the remaining five seats were warranted due to sitting Congress MLAs crossing over to the BJP in the run up to the national election in which the BJP had made Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat, its prime ministerial candidate. Keshubhai Patel, the former Gujarat chief minister, who had floated the Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) to take on Modi in 2012 state election, merged his party in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and resigned as MLA from Visavadar, warranting a bypoll. The results were mixed for both parties. Congress turncoats Rajendrasinh Chavda, Jasa Barad and Bavku Undhad retained their respective seats of Himmatnagar, Somnath and Lathi respectively as BJP nominees. The BJP also managed to retain Rapar but lost the Visavadar seat to Congress. On the other hand, Congress managed to retain Abdasa where senior leader Shaktisinh Gohil defeated Congress turncoat Chhabil Patel. It also retained Mandvi (ST) as Anand Chaudhary defeated BJP’s Hemlata Vasava whom the saffron party had fielded while nominating Prabhu Vasava, the turncoat Congress MLA, as its candidate for Bardoli Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, four assembly segments — Manavadar, Jamnagar Rural in Jamnagar district, Dhrangadhra in Surendranagar district and Unjha in Mehsana district - went to polls simultaneously with 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The bypolls to these seats were required following the resignation of sitting Congress MLAs Jawahar Chavda, Vallabh Dharaviya, Parshotta Sabariya and Asha Patel respectively. The BJP gave tickets to Jawahar, who had been included in the cabinet of then chief minister Vijay Rupani, Sabariya and Asha from their respective seats while fielding Raghavji Patel from Jamnagar Rural in place of Dharaviya, a BJP rebel who had returned to party fold. They defeated Ladani, Dinesh Patel, Kanti Patel and Jayanti Sabhaya of Congress by 9,759, 34,886, 23,072 and 33,052 votes, respectively. Interestingly, after losing the 2019 bypoll to Jawhar, Ladani defeated Jawahar in the 2022 state election. But like his predecessor, he too defected to the BJP, warranting the fourth election to this seat in six years. In the polling held in May, Visavadar recorded 46.49 per cent turnout. The polling percentage in Porbandar, Vijapur, Khambhat and Vaghodia was 57.99 per cent, 64.93 per cent, 66.28 per cent and 70.29 per cent, respectively.
