Gujarat Elections Results: BJP wins Limkheda where `justice for Bilkis Bano` became campaign issue

BJP sweeps central Gujarat, While the premature release of the 11 convicts in Bilkis Bano case became a campaign issue

New Delhi: The candidate of the opposition Congress from the Limkheda Assembly seat in Gujarat's Dahod district where 2002 riots victim Bilkis Bano once lived, promised to revoke the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case by the BJP-led state government, finished third with 8,000 votes. However, the seat was lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Bano was a resident of the tribal-dominated Dahod district's Randhikpur village. Shailesh Bhabhor, a sitting BJP MLA, defeated Naresh Baria of the Aam Aadmi Party by nearly 4,000 votes. The premature release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case became a campaign issue, with the Congress mentioning it in its manifesto and promising justice for her.

Following the remission, the 11 men walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15, 2022. Some activists and observers had predicted that as the AAP leaders remained silent on the issue while Congress leaders like Jignesh Mevani were vocal about it, Muslims would vote for the Congress. But ahead of the polls, Shailesh Bhabhor had confidently claimed that Bilkis Bano was never a poll issue and even Muslims supported the BJP.

Gujarat Assembly elections 2022 analysis

A region-wise analysis of the Gujarat assembly results shows that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept Saurashtra, winning 40 of 48 seats, regaining its hold over a region where the Congress held sway in 2017 polls, bagging as many as 28 seats. The Congress party managed to win just 3 seats, a far cry from the 28 seats it won in the 2017 elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in its maiden Gujarat assembly elections, managed to bag 4 seats, one seat more than the Congress' tally in the region. Samajwadi Party candidate Kandhal Jadeja won from Kutiyana. BJP polled 48.23 per cent votes in Saurashtra, Congress got 26 per cent and AAP secured 20 per cent.

Gujarat Elections 2017

In the 2017 elections, Congress won 28 seats, while BJP bagged 19 seats and NCP got one seat. The Congress secured more vote percentage than BJP in the 2017 elections at 45.37 per cent, while BJP then bagged 44.90 per cent of votes. The region with a sizeable Patidar and Other Backward Class (OBC) population helped Congress limit the BJP to 99 seats in 2017 polls, the saffron party's worst performance since 2002. A look at BJP's ticket allocation in the region shows that it banked on Congress' turncoat MLAs and fresh faces to attract votes, observers said. Of the 20 Congress MLAs who had defected to the BJP after winning the 2017 elections, half were from seats in Saurashtra.

BJP swept central Gujarat

Central Gujarat: The BJP swept central Gujarat by winning 56 out of the 61 seats in the region, while Congress managed to retain only four seats. The AAP remained mostly a no-show and was placed in the second spot in eight of these seats. The BJP lost the Vaghodia seat where it faced a rebellion from five-term MLA Madhu Shrivastav who contested as an independent. While Shrivastav came a distant fourth, another independent candidate Dharmendra Vaghela defeated BJP's, Ashvin Patel. 

(With agencies inputs)