Gujarat election results: Unscathed by bridge collapse incident, BJP wins all three Assembly seats in Morbi

A five-time MLA from Morbi, Amrutiya had built his election campaign around his rescue act at the Jhulto Pul bridge site. Videos of him swimming in the river to save people, who had fallen in it after the bridge collapse, had gone viral. While campaigning for the Assembly election, he often spoke about how he jumped in the dirty water to save people while other leaders watched from the river bank.

The suspension bridge was under the jurisdiction of BJP-ruled Morbi municipality, which had given it to Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited of Oreva Group for operations and maintenance.

The Congress and AAP had targeted the BJP government over the incident, accusing it of negligence and claiming that the fact that bridge could not be maintained properly exposed the reality of development claims of the ruling party.

However, Amrutiya’s rival Jayantilal Patel barely mentioned the incident during the election campaign. Patel, a businessman, had earlier lost the Morbi seat to Amrutiya in the Assembly elections in 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2007. He had contested the Assembly election for the first time in 1990, when he had lost to Babubhai Jasbhai Patel.

In the 2017 Assembly election, Amrutiya had narrowly lost to Brijesh Merja of Congress. However, Merja defected to the BJP in 2020 and won a subsequent by-poll as a BJP nominee by defeating Patel. Merja went on to become a minister in the outgoing government of Bhupendra Patel.

The BJP, however, denied a ticket to Merja this time and instead fielded Amrutiya, who had won from the Morbi Assembly seat five consecutive times in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2012.

In neighbouring Tanakara Assembly seat, which includes parts of Morbi town, BJP leader Durlabhji Dethariya defeated sitting Congress MLA Lalit Kagathara by 10,256 votes. Dethariya polled 83,274 votes while Kagathara, who is also the working president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, could secure only 73,018 votes. Kagathara blamed AAP candidate Sanjay Bhatasana for his defeat, saying Bhatasana had split opposition votes. Bhatasana got 17,834 votes, which is higher than Dethariya’s victory margin.

In Wankaner, the third Assembly seat in Morbi district and a traditional Congress bastion, BJP candidate Jitu Somani defeated sitting Congress MLA Mahmadjavid Pirzada by 19,955 votes. Somani got 80,677 votes while Pirzada recieved 60,722 votes. AAP candidate Vikram Sorani got 53,485 votes, which is more than double of Somani’s victory margin.

In the 2017 Assembly election, the Congress had snatched Morbi and Tankara seats from Congress while retaining its hold over Wankaner.