New Delhi: The opposition Congress candidate from Limkheda assembly seat in Gujarat’s Dahod district, where 2002 riot victim Bilkis Bano once lived, promised to revoke the immunity granted by the BJP-led state government to the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case. 8,000 votes for third place. However, the seat was lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Bano was a resident of Randhikpur village in tribal-dominated Dahod district. BJP’s sitting MLA Shailesh Bhabhor defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Naresh Baria by around 4,000 votes. The premature release of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case became a campaign issue, with the Congress mentioning it in its manifesto and promising justice for her.
After remission, 11 people walked out of Godhra sub-jail on August 15, 2022. Some activists and observers had predicted that AAP leaders remained silent on the issue while Congress leaders like Jignesh Mevani were vocal about it, Muslims vote for Congress. But before the elections, Shailesh Bhabhor confidently claimed that Bilkis Bano was never an election issue and that even Muslims supported the BJP.
Gujarat Assembly Election 2022 Analysis
A region-wise analysis of the Gujarat Assembly results shows that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 40 of the 48 seats in Saurashtra, where the Congress won 28 in the 2017 elections. , The Congress party managed to win just 3 seats, a far cry from the 28 it won in the 2017 elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed to win 4 seats in its first Gujarat Assembly election, one seat more than the Congress in the region. Samajwadi Party candidate Kandhal Jadeja won from Kutiyana. In Saurashtra, BJP got 48.23 per cent votes, Congress 26 per cent and AAP 20 per cent.
gujarat election 2017
In the 2017 elections, the Congress had won 28 seats, while the BJP got 19 seats and the NCP one. The Congress secured a higher vote share than the BJP in the 2017 elections at 45.37 per cent, while the BJP got 44.90 per cent. The region with a large Patidar and Other Backward Class (OBC) population helped the Congress restrict the BJP to 99 seats in the 2017 elections, the saffron party’s worst performance since 2002. A look at the BJP’s ticket allocation in the region reveals that it is heavily dependent on the Congress. Observers said defector MLAs and new faces to attract votes. Half of the 20 Congress MLAs who joined the BJP after winning the 2017 elections were from Saurashtra seats.
BJP wiped out in central Gujarat
Central Gujarat: The BJP won 56 out of 61 seats in Central Gujarat, while the Congress managed to retain only four seats. AAP was mostly a no-show and came second in eight of these seats. The BJP lost the Waghodia seat, where it faced a rebellion from five-time MLA Madhu Srivastava, who contested as an independent. While Srivastava finished fourth, another independent candidate Dharmendra Vaghela defeated BJP’s Ashwin Patel.
Expressed gratitude to all the voters in Ghatlodia assembly constituency for showering immense love on me and making me win in the assembly elections. He congratulated the hard working workers of Bharatiya Janata Party who always stood with the people and worked for public welfare. pic.twitter.com/mjd2gnMgCo— Bhupendra Patel (@Bhupendrabjp) December 8, 2022
(with inputs from agencies)