Gujarat By polls Results: Rahul Gandhi's hopes of strengthening the Congress in Gujarat have been jolted in the by-elections. By saving its Visavadar seat in the BJP's stronghold, AAP gave a message of being combative, but could neither save its five seats in the past nor has it emerged stronger now. While BJP managed to win by a big margin in Kadi, Congress's deposit was forfeited in Visavadar.
Ahmedabad: Congress has suffered a major setback in the Gujarat assembly by-elections. While Congress could not give a tough fight in Kadi, the position of Congress became even weaker on the Visavadar seat. This time too, the deposit was not saved. Congress has suffered a severe setback on both the seats when Rahul Gandhi is busy finding good horses. In the 2022 assembly elections, Congress won only 17 seats out of the total 182 seats in the state. Congress has lost five of its MLAs in the last 30 months, during this period by-elections were held on a total of seven seats in the state but Congress could not win a single seat. In such a situation, the question arises that how will the mission of Rahul Gandhi to defeat BJP in 2027 succeed?
AAP got a new ‘Sanjeevani’
Congress has got 5501 votes in Visavadar seat. In the last elections, it had got 16,963 votes. Similarly, the party’s candidate Ramesh Bhai Chavda has got 60290 votes on Kadi seat. He had to face defeat by a margin of 39452 votes. In the last election, the party’s candidate Praveen Parmar had got 78,858 votes. Then BJP had won this seat by 28,194 votes. After registering victory on the Visavadar seat, AAP’s state president Isudan Gadhvi made a big announcement. He said that this victory is of the people of Gujarat. It is of the farmers of Gujarat. This is the victory of the workers and the middle class. Gadhvi said that this is the victory of the warriors of Aam Aadmi Party. Aam Aadmi Party government is going to be formed in Gujarat in 2027. It is clear that AAP has got a new lease of life after the crushing defeat in the Delhi elections.
Current situation after 2022 assembly elections?
- Congress 17(-5), 12 MLAs
- AAP 5(+-1), 05 MLAs
- BJP 156(+5) 161 MLAs
If AAP was successful, why did Congress miss out?
In the 2022 elections, AAP won only five seats with 14 percent votes. Before the Ayodhya Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha, when AAP MLA Bhupat Bhayani left the party and joined BJP, AAP had announced at that time. The party had said that those who betrayed the people of Visavadar will be avenged. To retain the Visavadar seat, AAP fielded the most popular and big leader in the state. Like AAP, five Congress MLAs also joined BJP, but Congress could not take revenge on even a single seat. All five MLAs won on the lotus symbol. Arjun Modhwadia is also included in these. By winning the Visavadar seat, AAP gave a message that the party is serious about Gujarat.
There was a setback in the local body elections
When elections were held for 68 municipalities in the state in February this year, Congress suffered a major setback in them. BJP had registered a big victory. Congress’s condition became weak in these elections. After this, Rahul Gandhi started the process of strengthening the organization in the state with ‘Nutan Gujarat-Nutan Congress’ (New Gujarat, New Congress) to defeat BJP in the 2027 elections. Under this, the organization creation campaign and convention was held in Ahmedabad. After a long exercise, the party has declared 40 district/city presidents of the state on June 21, two days ago, but the setback received in the by-elections has forced the party to think about how it will be able to fight BJP in 2027, because AAP has so far made a dent in its vote bank. Out of the five assembly seats in four states, Congress has definitely won the Nilambur seat in Kerala. In 2021, independents won there.
Written by: Achalendra Katiyar
Achalendra Katiyar has studied from Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi. After this, he worked in reputed national newspapers of Meerut, Kanpur and Delhi. Since June 2020, he has been active in understanding the politics and culture of Gujarat.
Courtesy: Hindi News