Gandhinagar: The Aam Aadmi Party and independents have not only damaged prospects of the Congress but also of the BJP on some seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections.
Patidar leader and BJP candidate from Viramgam Hardik Patel should thank the AAP candidate for making his victory easy. Patel polled 98,627 votes, and had AAP candidate Amarsinh Thakor not got 47,072 votes, it would have been difficult for him to get elected, because of Thakor vote division. Congress candidate Lakhabhai Bharvad fetched only 42,412 votes.
Congress candidate in Vav seat, Geniben Thakor won the election by defeating her BJP rival Thakor Swarupji with 15,601 votes – and has independent candidate Amirambhai Ashal polled 27,346 votes to thank.
BJP’s Manavadar candidate Jawahar Chavda lost the election by the margin of 3,453 votes to Congress candidate Arvind Ladani, as AAP candidate Karsan Bhadakar had polled 23,297.
Another interesting case is of Kankrej constituency, where state Congress chief Jagdish Thakor’s brother Amrutji Thakor defeated BJP candidate Vaghela Kirtisinh by margin of 4,808 votes, while the AAP candidate fetched 5,061 votes.
Congress Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, who defeated BJP candidate Manibhai Vaghela by 3,857 votes, has AAP candidate Dalpatbhai Bhatia, who polled 4,315 votes, to thank.
–IANS