Amid flood situation in certain parts of the State, Gujarat will again vote in the bypolls in nine Assembly segments and one parliamentary constituency on Saturday.
With national-level political leaders remained aloof during the campaign coupled with flood situation in Vadodara, the by-election did not generate any interest among the voters too. Unlike the last lok Sabha elections, there may be low turnout in the election bound constituencies. Moreover, the names of candidates announced by both sides carry hardly any personality to stir the poll pot. The bulk of the seats fell vacant as the BJP had fielded 9 sitting legislators including Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the lok Sabha elections.
The saffron brigade won all nine seats as the party swept all 26 parliamentary seats in the State. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then Chief Minister of Gujarat, contested from two constituencies — Vadodara and Varanasi. With Modi retained Varanasi and vacated Vadodara seat. Now, Vadodara’s deputy mayor Ranjanben Bhatt is contesting on high-profile Vadodara seat against Congress’s Narendra Rawat, the president of the city Congress. Ravat had initially been selected through the primaries as the party nominee but was replaced by Madhusudan Mistry, Congress general secretary after Modi decided to contest from Vadodara earlier this year and won with mammoth margin of 5.70 lakh votes.
The seats due for by-elections are Tankara, Khambhaliya, Mangrol and Talaja in Saurashtra region, Anand, Matar and limkheda in central Gujarat, Deesa in north Gujarat and Modi’s Vidhan Sabha constituency of Maninagar in Ahmedabad. The BJP holds 117 seats in the 182 member Gujarat Vidhan Sabha with the Congress accounting for 54.