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Journalism of Courage
While BJP registered a clear lead in Gujarat in the initial rounds of the Assembly polls, Central Gujarat recorded mixed results. While most turncoat MLAs, who defected from the Congress to the BJP, registered losses, only CK Raulji of Godhra Assembly is leading with a comfortable margin.
In Kheda district, Congress is leading the final round of counting in Matar constituency. Candidate Sanjay Patel is leading by over 4,000 votes against BJP’s sitting MLA Kesrisinh Solanki. Congress won the Thasra Assembly constituency, with Kanti Parmar defeating turncoat leader Ramsinh Parmar, who has been a five-term MLA from the seat and is also the chairman of Amul Dairy.
BJP candidate Mansinh Chauhan from Balasinor is also trailing behind Congress candidate. Congress candidate Kalu Dabhi won the Kapadvanj Assembly in Kheda district, which was earlier represented by Shankarsinh Vaghela. Vaghela did not field a candidate from his Jan Vikalp-All India Hindustan Congress party front for Kapadvanj. Vaghela, however, had lent support to Bimal Shah, an independent candidate, who had also served as Transport Minister of the state.
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However, the biggest upset for BJP came in the tribal district of Narmada as both sitting MLAs – Motisinh Vasava from Dediapada constituency and Shabdasharan Tadvi from Nandod constituency- were trailing behind the Congress-Bhartiya Tribal Party combine in the final round. Rebel JD(U) leader Chhotu Vasava’s son Mahesh Vasava, who is contesting from Dediapada Assembly in Narmada district, is leading over BJPs’ sitting MLA Moti Vasava. In Nandod, Congress candidate Premsinh Vasava has a clear lead over sitting MLA Tadvi. Incidentally, Narmada district, which recorded the highest voter turn out in the polls at 79%, is home to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the 182-metre-tall Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
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In Vadodara, BJP candidates Seema Mohile from Akota, Manisha Vakil from Vadodara City, Jitendra Sukhadia from Sayajigunj, Rajendra Trivedi from Raopura and Yogesh Patel from Manjalpur constituencies registered comfortable victories. All the five urban seats have been traditional BJP bastions. In Vadodara rural, Waghodia BJP MLA Madhu Shrivastav won by a margin of over 12,000 votes, while Karjan MLA Satish Patel scraped through. Ketan Inamdar, sitting MLA of Savli in Vadodara, also registered a thumping win, while Padra sitting MLA Dinesh Patel is set to face an upset from Congress candidate Jaspalsinh Thakor.
Of the 7 constituencies in Anand district, Congress won five and BJP two. Congress retained Borsad, Anklav, Sojitra, Petlad and wrested Anand from BJP. The BJP had fielded Yogesh Patel, dropping sitting MLA Rohit Patel from Anand. Congress’ Kanti Soda Parmar won from Anand. BJP, however, retained Khambhat with new candidate Mayur Raval and won Umreth with Govind Parmar. NCP candidate Jayant Patel, who was sitting MLA in Umreth, lost. In Chhota Udepur, Congress’s heavyweight and sitting MLA Mohan Rathwa managed to scrape through with a 700 vote lead in the end.
