Express News Service
AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad district’s 21 urban constituencies, including the city, have been a BJP bastion since the 1990s thanks to a high concentration of urban Hindu voters. This time, AAP is going all out to dent the BJP vote bank. Polling for Ahmedabad and 92 other constituencies is due in the second phase on December 5.
There are 249 candidates in the fray for 21 Ahmedabad constituencies with BJP, Congress, and AAP together fielding 63 candidates. The BJP has maintained its dominance in the Ahmedabad rural seats for years. However, the party has repeated only three candidates on 16 seats here. Along with Congress, AAP has emerged as a competitor against the BJP in many city seats.
Congress won four seats in Ahmedabad in the previous election: Dariapur, Jamalpur Khadia and Danilimda Bapunagar. However, it will be difficult for Congress to retain the seats as AAP and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have entered the fray with full force.
To avoid anti-incumbency and people’s anger with the administration’s poor response to excessive rains in Ahmedabad, the BJP has replaced most candidates, including state home minister Pradeep Singh Jadeja, with new faces.
Ahmedabad city includes the Maninagar constituency from where PM Narendra Modi won thrice (2002, 2007, 2014) when he was the state chief minister due to a high number of Hindu voters. Maninagar, the urban constituency in Ahmedabad city, has been with BJP since the 1990s. The party has fielded Suresh Patel from this seat.
Another urban seat in Ahmedabad city which has had a strong presence of BJP for years is Ghatlodia. It has a sizable number of Patidar voters and has given two chief ministers to the state — the current CM Bhupendra Patel and Anandiben Patel (UP Governor). The BJP gave the ticket to Bhupendra Patel in 2017 after she quit active politics. He won with a margin of 1.17 lakh votes despite anger among Patidar voters following Patidar quota agitation. This Time Congress has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Ami Yagnik from there.
However, AAP which received only 0.10% of votes in 2017 is competing with BJP in urban areas, especially in Ahmedabad and Surat. In most of the seats in Ahmedabad this time, AAP has fielded candidates based on caste equations that appear to affect the BJP more than Congress. AAP’s focus on Ahmedabad can be gauged from the fact that Arvind Kejriwal started his campaign in Gujarat from Bapunagar, a Patidar-dominated area in Ahmedabad city.
Besides, AAP’s campaign focuses on two cities, Surat and Ahmedabad. Ground reports suggest AAP candidates can spoil BJP votes in Hindu and Patidar constituencies, while they can spoil Congress’ equation in seats with Muslim vote banks in areas like Jamalpur and Daryapur. Most seats that the BJP won previously came from urban areas which include four major cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara.
AHMEDABAD: Ahmedabad district’s 21 urban constituencies, including the city, have been a BJP bastion since the 1990s thanks to a high concentration of urban Hindu voters. This time, AAP is going all out to dent the BJP vote bank. Polling for Ahmedabad and 92 other constituencies is due in the second phase on December 5.
There are 249 candidates in the fray for 21 Ahmedabad constituencies with BJP, Congress, and AAP together fielding 63 candidates. The BJP has maintained its dominance in the Ahmedabad rural seats for years. However, the party has repeated only three candidates on 16 seats here. Along with Congress, AAP has emerged as a competitor against the BJP in many city seats.
Congress won four seats in Ahmedabad in the previous election: Dariapur, Jamalpur Khadia and Danilimda Bapunagar. However, it will be difficult for Congress to retain the seats as AAP and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have entered the fray with full force.
To avoid anti-incumbency and people’s anger with the administration’s poor response to excessive rains in Ahmedabad, the BJP has replaced most candidates, including state home minister Pradeep Singh Jadeja, with new faces.
Ahmedabad city includes the Maninagar constituency from where PM Narendra Modi won thrice (2002, 2007, 2014) when he was the state chief minister due to a high number of Hindu voters. Maninagar, the urban constituency in Ahmedabad city, has been with BJP since the 1990s. The party has fielded Suresh Patel from this seat.
Another urban seat in Ahmedabad city which has had a strong presence of BJP for years is Ghatlodia. It has a sizable number of Patidar voters and has given two chief ministers to the state — the current CM Bhupendra Patel and Anandiben Patel (UP Governor). The BJP gave the ticket to Bhupendra Patel in 2017 after she quit active politics. He won with a margin of 1.17 lakh votes despite anger among Patidar voters following Patidar quota agitation. This Time Congress has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Ami Yagnik from there.
However, AAP which received only 0.10% of votes in 2017 is competing with BJP in urban areas, especially in Ahmedabad and Surat. In most of the seats in Ahmedabad this time, AAP has fielded candidates based on caste equations that appear to affect the BJP more than Congress. AAP’s focus on Ahmedabad can be gauged from the fact that Arvind Kejriwal started his campaign in Gujarat from Bapunagar, a Patidar-dominated area in Ahmedabad city.
Besides, AAP’s campaign focuses on two cities, Surat and Ahmedabad. Ground reports suggest AAP candidates can spoil BJP votes in Hindu and Patidar constituencies, while they can spoil Congress’ equation in seats with Muslim vote banks in areas like Jamalpur and Daryapur. Most seats that the BJP won previously came from urban areas which include four major cities of Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara.
