Tainted candidates: How they fared this election

Verdict: The sitting Congress MLA from Dhoraji Assembly segment. He won against BJP’s little known Leuva Patel candidate and first-timer Mansukh Khacharia. BJP had won this seat five times consecutively,last time in 2004.

Criminal factor: Radadiya has a total of 16 criminal cases registered against him,which include serious charges of rioting,dacoity,culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means.

Kunvarji Mohan Bavaliya,Congress (Rajkot)

Verdict: A sitting MLA from Jasdan,he defeated BJP’s Kiran Patel by a margin of 24,735 votes. Considered to be a BJP bastion,the Congress won this seat after five consecutive defeats.

Criminal factor: He is an accused in two cases,with six serious counts. Bavaliya also has a case booked against him under Section 302 of the IPC,relating to the murder of social worker Rahim Lohiya. He was arrested in December last year in a government land grab case and had to spend nearly one month in Gondal sub-jail.

Chandrakant Raghunath Patil,BJP (Navsari)

Verdict: Won with the second highest margin in the state of 1.32 lakh votes,defeating Congress’ Dhansukh Rajput. Patil obtained lead in all the seven Assembly segments of his Parliamentary constituency.

Criminal factor: Patil,who has six criminal cases against him,is a former police official who was suspended on charges of bootlegging several years ago. Recently,he spent six months in jail for his alleged involvement in a Rs 90-crore fraud at Surat’s Diamond Jubilee Cooperative Bank.

Bhavsinh Rathod,BJP (Patan)

Verdict: Rathod is a sitting Congress MLA from Sami-Harij who switched sides just before elections and lost to Congress’ Jagdish Thakore by over 18,000 votes.

Criminal factor: Rathod started his criminal career with petty crimes like housebreaking and was imprisoned for nearly five years. Then he got into serious crimes like narcotics smuggling,and was convicted and imprisoned in a Kerala jail for several years. After a prolonged legal battle,he was acquitted by the Supreme Court,which gave him the benefit of doubt. Even his son Kishore Rathod has been arrested in fake currency note scam and is out on bail.

Deepak Sathi,BJP (Anand)

Verdict: Lost to Congress’ Bharat Solanki by a margin of 67,318 votes

Criminal factor: Sathi has been behind bars for over a month for defrauding the Charotar Co-operative Bank in Anand by siphoning off Rs 85 crore worth of savings deposits. When the depositors sought judicial remedy,the government settled the majority of the accounts by bringing in Rs 400 crore from the Deposit Insurance & Credit Guarantee Corporation,a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India.

Chhotu Vasava,JD (U) (Bharuch)

Verdict: A sitting MLA from Jhadia and JD (U) Gujarat president,Vasava lost to BJP’s sitting MP from Bharuch constituency,Mansukh Vasava. His hold over the tribal areas of Bharuch has been denting Congress’ chances on this seat in the last few elections.

Criminal factor: Faces 13 serious charges,while his sons Kishore and Dilip Vasava have been booked for ‘attempt to murder’ for attacking local Congress leader Bhallu Vasava early this year. Kishore is also wanted in the Sheikh Shakil murder case of 2001.

Prabhatsinh Chauhan,BJP (Panchmahals)

Verdict: Was one of the giant killers of these elections,defeating Union Textiles Minister Shankersinh Vaghela.

Criminal factor: He is accused in three cases,including serious ones of criminal conspiracy,criminal breach of trust,cheating,forgery,forgery of valuable security,will etc. Chauhan is also an accused in the Panchmahals District Cooperative Bank scam,while his son Pravin has been arrested under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act on more than one occasion.