Most Congress turncoats lose, prominent party leaders trounced

Four of the six Congress turncoat legislators in Gujarat who had bagged BJP tickets lost at the hustings, while some of the Congress' prominent state leaders, including Shaktisinh Gohil and Arjun Modhvadia, lost.

Of the Congress turncoats, Tejashree Patel lost from Viramgam by about 6,500 votes to Lakhabhai Bharwad; Mansinh Chauhan lost from Balasinor; cooperative giant and chairman of Amul Ramsinh Parmar lost from his traditional Thasra seat while Raghavji Patel lost from Jamnagar (Rural).

Congress party's senior leader Shaktisinh Gohil lost from Mandvi in Kutch. He had shifted his seat from Abdasa in the by-election after losing in Bhavnagar (West). He polled 58,632 votes, about 10,655 votes less than BJP's Virendrasinh Jadeja.

Another senior Congress leader, Arjun Modhvadia lost to Babu Bokhiria in Porbandar by 1,855 votes -- for the second time in a row to the same BJP candidate. Modhvadia polled 70,575 votes, compared to 72,430 votes by his BJP rival. The BSP candidate bagged 4,337 votes, NOTA got 3,433 votes and Independents and others around 3,000 votes in Porbandar.

Siddharth Patel, the third chief ministerial aspirant and son of former Gujarat Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel, lost from Dabhoi by 2,839 votes to BJP's Saileshbhai Mehta.

Tushar Chaudhary, son of former Congress Chief Minister Amarsinh Chaudhary, lost from Mahuva (ST) by 6,433 votes to BJP's Mohanbhai Dhodiya. Tushar had changed his constituency from Vyara.

Babu Mangukia, the lawyer of the Patels during the Patidar agitation, lost from Thakkar Bapanagar in Ahmedabad to Vallabh Kakadia by 29,304 votes. Kakadia polled 75,436 votes.

The winners for Congress were its state party co-president, incharge for Saurashtra region and chief ministerial aspirant Paresh Dhanani. He won from Amreli constituency by over 12,000 votes against BJP strongman Bavku Undhad.

Alpesh Thakor, OBC youth leader, won from his Radhanpur constituency by over 21,000 against BJP strongman Lavingji Thakor.

In Jamalpur-Khadia constituency in Ahmedabad, Congress candidate Imran Khedwala trounced sitting legislator Bhushan Bhatt. The BJP has been winning this seat since 1990s.

Punjabhai Vansh of Congress also won from Una constituency, the place where Dalit youth were beaten up by self-styled cow vigilantes.

--IANS

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