30% voter base scary for Congress ticket aspirants

SURAT: The Congress voter base that once was between 37 and 40 per cent in the 14 assembly segments of Surat and Navsari parliamentary constituencies has now shrunk to 30 per cent. This has scared many ticket aspirants, thus making it difficult for the Congress to think of fielding strong candidates in Surat and Navsari Lok Sabha constituencies, party sources said.
"If a party's voter base falls by at least 7 to 10 per cent in each of the 14 assembly segments of the two parliamentary constituencies, then who would like to bet on a losing horse?" asked former city unit Congress president Ashok Jirawala, who recently joined BJP.
Congress voter base consisted mainly of minority community members and class IV workers. Educated middle class, including Brahmins made up 10-12 per cent of its voter base in all the assembly segments of the two parliamentary constituencies. However, in the 2012 assembly elections, Congress except for a few segments like Surat East, could not get more than 37 per cent of the total votes polled anywhere.
"The middle class educated urban voter has deserted the party for a number of reasons," said a former city Congress president.
In the previous elections, Congress got just 30 per cent of the total votes polled in Surat parliamentary seat and 36 in Navsari, robbing the party of its sheen.
"We never imagined that it would be difficult for us to even get 50,000 votes in the last assembly elections. I thought my trader friends would vote for me but it seems no one did for Congress," said Dhanpat Jain, who contested from Majura assembly seat on Congress ticket and lost to BJP by a huge margin.
Assembly segments under Navsari Lok Sabha constituency
Assembly voters voting BJP Congress Lead in 2012 elections
Limbayat 218011 149834 79506 49279 30227
Udhna 206684 128561 74647 41966 32681
Majura 214887 139786 103163 31555 71608
Choryasi 302271 190295 119397 51967 67430
Jalalpore 191813 142639 96199 58281 37918
Navsari 205690 154430 80880 64496 16384
Gandevi 248094 188467 103544 76666 26878
Total 1587450 1094012 657336 374210 283126
Assembly segments under Surat Lok Sabha constituency
Assembly Voters Voting BJP Congress Lead in 2012 elections
Olpad 267482 192100 106805 69747 37058
Surat East 193242 136079 72649 56860 15789
Surat North 161739 103329 59690 37656 22034
Varacha 180803 127385 68529 41870 20359
Karanj 145029 96169 65696 16257 49439
Katargam 235578 165854 88604 45332 43272
Surat West 202877 107553 86029 19755 66274
Total 1386750 928469 548002 293777 254225