It's Vaghela vs Waghela here

LS CONSTITUENCY WATCH: KAPADVANJ

The fate of former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, who is also the Congress candidate, makes the Kapadvanj seat the most closely watched Lok Sabha constituencies in the state in the coming elections.

The seat will also test the mettle of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state, which will leave no stone unturned in defeating Vaghela, who was once the master strategist for the party.

While the BJP has played the caste card by fielding Liladhar Waghela from this constituency, the Congress will have to contain infighting and groupism "" two factors which are growing by the day in the state unit.

Shankersinh Vaghela is the sitting member of Parliament (MP) from the Kapadvanj seat, which he won with a comfortable margin in the last election.

Both these candidates are known for their mastery over the political trapeze. Shankersinh Vaghela was a staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha follower and an influential BJP leader before forming his own party and subsequently joining the Congress. Liladhar Waghela, on the other hand, was a Congressman and is now contesting on a BJP ticket.

Political pundits consider this contest as a test of Shankersinh Vaghela's electioneering skills and also his future in the party, as he has not been able to use his influence in allocation of tickets for the 26 Lok Sabha seats.

The Kapadvanj constituency is the most complex as far as the Assembly segments are concerned.

It is a combination of casts and districts. The region comprises seven Assembly segments of four districts "" Daskroi (Ahmedabad), Dehgam (Gandhinagar), Prantij, Bayad and Meghraj (Sabarkantha) and Kapadvanj and Kathlal of Kheda districts.

All this districts have different cast combinations. Apart from Patels, Thakors, with a population of 3.25 lakh, will play a decisive role in the constituency.

After the Godhra massacre, the political scenario in this constituency has changed largely as four out of seven Assembly segments are with the BJP and the Congress holds the Dehgam, Bayad and Kathlal Assembly segments.

Recently many Congress leaders, particularly those belonging to the Thakors including former MLAs and councilors, have changed their loyalty and joined the BJP.

Traditionally Kapadvanj has been a BJP-dominated seat. Only in the last Lok Sabha election Shankersinh Waghela snatched the seat from the BJP, defeating sitting MP Jaysinh Chauhan by a margin of over 1.6 lakh votes.

Shankersinh Waghela got a 62.17 per cent votes whereas Jaysinh could manage only 37.29 per cent votes.

Looking at the past results, between 1989 and 1998, the seat was retained by the BJP candidate Gabhaji Thakor twice (1989 and 1991) and twice by Jaysinh Chauhan (1996 and 1998).

In 1989 Gabhaji Thakor defeated the Congress candidate Natwarsinh Sloanki by over a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.

In 1991 he defeated Budhaji Chauhan by a margin of 28,334 votes. In the 1996 elections BJP's Jaysinh Chauhan defeated Fulsinh Chauhan of Congress by 83,973 votes. In 1998, he defeated Jagdish Thakor of the Congress by a margin of over 50,000 votes.

The contest this time will also decide the future of Vaghela's Shakti Dal or "Danda Sena".