Gujarat assembly elections 2017: Imran Yusufbhai Khedawala — from councillor to MLA

Khedawala had left the Congress after being denied the AMC ticket in 2015 and rebelled to bounce back as an Independent councillor when the ruling BJP placed him on two civic body committees. He, however, gives the credit of his victory to his work in Jamalpur “without any discrimination” as a “dedicated” councillor.

“People will be my priority in the Assembly. In the coming days, I will open my office in an area, which will be easily accessible to all. I will open a separate office in Khadia where a sizeable number of people voted for me,” he said, adding he would also seek cooperation of senior MLAs. “Becoming an MLA was my dream, which has been realised in 2017,” he said, acknowledging the cooperation of former MLA Sabir Kabli who did not participate in the fray this time in his favour.

In 2012, Kabli had rebelled against the Congress, leading to a triangular contest in the Jamalpur-Khadia constituency. He had bagged 30,513 votes (24.52% share) against 48,058 votes (38.63 %) of BJP’s Bhushan Bhatt and 41,727 votes (33.54%) of Congress’s Samir Khan Sipai. Come 2017, Kabli, who is back to the Congress, was convinced not to contest. This reduced the vote share of Bhatt drastically to 35.56 per cent, that is 46,007 votes. He has lost to Khedawala by 29,393 votes. The margin has even dipped to minus 2.6 per cent from 5 per cent in 2012. This time, Khedawala has polled 75,346 votes (58.24%).