Out of 4 assembly seats in Saurashtra, BJP loses two

Incidentally, Congress had won bypolls to Visavadar Assembly seat in Junagadh and Abdasa in Kutch, held alongside the General Elections in April this year in which the BJP had swept all 26 Parliamentary seats in the state.

The total tally of the BJP in the Gujarat assembly on Tuesday was 120. One seat of Vajubhai Vala, who was appointed Karnataka governor, remains vacant. The BJP won 115 of 182 seats in the 2012 assembly elections and later won two more with Vitthal Radadiya and son Jayesh switching over to the BJP and winning the bypoll, taking its tally up to 117. The Congress tally went up to 58; the NCP has two seats and JD (U) one.

Goriya, who won by just 1,227 votes is a real estate dealer in Surat, originally hails from Khambhaliya town. Younger brother of Jesa Goriya, who was a minister in Shankersinh Vaghela’s government in the late 1990s, Goriya was convicted by a Surat court in a case of dacoity and attempt to murder in 1994, but the Gujarat High court had acquitted him.

Congress had won Khambhaliya seat last in 1990. Since 1995, the BJP had established its rule over the constituency. It had fallen vacant this year after Poonam Maadam resigned following her election to the Lok Sabha this April.

Congress also snatched back Mangrol seat in Junagadh district even as the BJP managed to retain its strongholds of Tankara in Morbi and Talaja in Bhavnagar. In Mangrol, Babu Vaja, president of Koli community in Junagadh and Gir Somnath districts, defeated Laxman Yadav of the BJP by a hefty margin of 22,682 and snatched back the Assembly seat from the saffron party after a gap of 12 years.

Vaja, a farmer, got the benefit of the dominance of Koli and Muslim voters in the constituency while Yadav, a Karadiya Rajput, could not muster enough support despite being a strong cooperative leader himself. This seat had fallen vacant after sitting BJP MLA Rajesh Chudasama was elected MP.

Bavanji Metaliya of the BJP defeated Congress candidate Lalit Kagathara from Tankara by 11,731 votes. Similarly, former MLA Shiva Gohil defeated Pravin Vala of the Congress from Talaja, with a margin of 9,518 votes. Tankara and Talaja had fallen vacant after Mohan Kundariya and Bharati Shiyal, respectively, were elected to the Lok Sabha.

The BJP also retained the remaining seats of Maninagar (Suresh Patel), Anand (Rohit Patel), Limkheda (Vichhiyabhai Bhuriya) and Matar (Kesrisinh Solanki).

BJP leaders put the blame on candidates for the defeat. “The fact that we won in Vadodara with huge margin despite heavy rains shows the support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and the BJP is intact,” said Gujarat BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani.

In Vadodara the BJP decided to keep the celebration muted and not hold any victory rally, because the city had been flooded recently. BJP candidate Ranjanben Bhatt said, “It is the spirit of the Barodians and their wishes that has resulted in victory. I am also thankful to the party members, from ward level volunteers to top leadership for this.”