Ahmedabad: Despite a hyped run-up to the assembly elections in Gujarat, the Aam Aadmi Party seemingly failed to turn the hypothetical chances into real-life poll victories. The Kejriwal-led side won five seats, whereas BJP scored a landslide victory securing 156 seats in total across the Western state, well above the halfway mark of 91.
Among a total of 35 assembly seats spread across the southern districts of Bharuch (5), Narmada (2), Tapi (2), Dang (1), Surat (16), Valsad (5), and Navsari (4), the saffron camp bagged 33 seats, while Congress and AAP won one each.
This comes after AAP got 27 out of 120 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections in 2021, which translated to about 28.47 percent of votes - a credible show which gave rise to speculations regarding a possible turnaround by the side in their maiden Gujarat campaign, spearheaded under its Chief Ministerial face, Isudan Gadhvi.
The chances of AAP's entrance into Gujarat politics from Surat, however, came crashing down on Thursday as BJP emerged victorious in all 16 constituencies in the district.
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The tribal factor, too, worked in favour of the BJP. Traditionally a Congress vote bank, the tribal population which had adopted a largely anti-BJP stance in 2017 polls owing to anti-tribal land acquisition protests by the grand old party, led by MLA Anant Patel, has swung towards the ruling party.
The development comes after the ruling party, earlier in May this year, announced to scrap the project. The effect of the move has been evident, with BJP bagging 12 out of the total 14 ST-reserved seats in the region.
Representation, in the current scenario, also appears to have played a key role. After the formation of the Bhupendra Patel government in 2021, the region got a total of seven ministers - three cabinet ministers, two MoS, and two other Ministers of State (Independent Charge). The party's state unit president, C R Patil, also hails from South Gujarat.
Among significant faces who contested from South Gujarat, Harsh Sanghvi, the Present Home Minister (state) and BJP candidate, won from the Majura seat of Surat. Energy and Tourism ministers Kanu Desai and Purnesh Modi, too, emerged victorious in their respective constituencies. For Congress. Anant Patel secured a victory from the Tribal-dominated Vansda seat in Navsari.
Aam Aadmi Party saw three of its heavyweight candidates bite the dust, as AAP Gujarat president Gopal Italia, as well as the two Surat-based leaders representing the Patidar community, Alpesh Kathiriya, and Dharmik Malaviya, lost their seats.
