Vadodara, Dec 08: Muslim voters, in all probability, may turn out to be the deciding factor in the election to the prestigious seat of Vadodara city, a constituency which was ravaged in the riots, earlier this year. Community leaders say its members, who comprise nearly 20 per cent of the total 2.47 lakh voters here, will turn out in full force on December 12, to cast their votes.
Answers to questions asked randomly to minority community members here show a swing in favour of the congress, with some voters saying that the scars of violence had not healed yet.
However, two-time winner and minister of state for civil defence and home guards Bhupendra Lakhawala, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is pitted against Chandrakant Srivastav of the Congress, in this traditional bjp bastion, is confident of achieving a hat-trick.

He is banking on the BJP's ''Hindutava'' mantra to marginalise the erosion of his vote bank by the over 45,000-strong Muslim votes in this lower-middle class-dominated constituency.
The two rivals have levelled a series of allegations and counter allegations on issues such as development and peace, as part of their respective campaigns. Locked in an eight-cornered contest, the two leaders have launched a virulent campaign against each other, most of which centres around the fallout of the February 27 Godhra incident, in their bid to win.
When this correspondent went round some areas in the constituency, it was evident from discussions with the leaders of the minority community, that there could be a record turnout of Muslim voters in the December 12 polls, with most of them seeming to have lost faith in the saffron party. Bureau Report