The Hindu : National : Congress gains some lost ground in central Gujarat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 24, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Congress gains some lost ground in central Gujarat

Manas Dasgupta

BJP continues to maintain its stranglehold in urban areas

GANDHINAGAR: Regaining lost ground in central Gujarat can be the only solace for the Congress this time. Central Gujarat, consisting of Vadodara, Kaira, Anand, and the tribal-dominated Panchmahals and Dahod districts, was traditionally a Congress stronghold. The 2002 communal riots, the impact of which was the most severe in this region and in parts of north Gujarat, changed the situation in the last elections.

In December 2002, of the 43 seats in central Gujarat the BJP snatched 38, leaving only five for the Congress, its lowest-ever tally in the region. But the Congress, which started improving its position from the last parliamentary elections, captured 22 seats this time. The BJP tally was reduced to 18, lower than the 20 seats it captured in 1995 when it won on its own. The Nationalist Congress Party, the Janata Dal (United) and an Independent candidate won the remaining seats.

Central Gujarat and Ahmedabad city and district were the only areas where the BJP suffered losses. In Kutch-Saurashtra and south and north Gujarat, where most exit polls predicted losses for the BJP, it actually gained. Of the 19 seats in Ahmedabad city and district, the BJP, which won 17 seats last time, got only 13. But it gained seven seats in north Gujarat, where it won 18 out of 33 in the last elections, and three in south Gujarat, where it had won 15 out of 29.

The shocker for the Congress perhaps was the Kutch-Saurashtra region, where it expected considerable gains due to the support of the BJP rebels and the influence of BJP rebel Keshubhai Patel over the “Patel” voters. The “Koli” voters were said to be dissatisfied with the State government’s failure to nab those responsible for the rape and murder of a Koli woman in Junagadh some six months ago.

The State government’s sweeping actions against a section of the farmers for alleged power theft and an acute shortage of power for irrigation purposes was also expected to go against the BJP. But all the dire predictions went wrong.

Neither the Patels nor the Kolis seemed to have voted against the BJP. Instead the anti-Modi stance of the Patels is believed to have consolidated other communities, particularly the Kshatriyas, to vote in the BJP’s favour. Otherwise, it might not have been possible for the BJP to capture 43 of the 58 seats in the region, four more than last time and virtually sweep the border district of Kutch by capturing five of the six seats.

Following the announcement of the results, Mr. Keshubhai Patel was among the first to congratulate Mr. Modi for the party’s victory.

While the BJP did not do as poorly in the rural areas as most political leaders believed, the party continued to maintain its stranglehold in urban Gujarat. Barring the three minority-dominated seats of Shahpur, Kalupur and Jamalpur, it retained the remaining 10 seats in Ahmedabad city. Except for one seat each in Bhavnagar and Rajkot, it won all the urban seats in the Vadodara, Surat, Junagadh and Jamnagar municipal corporation areas. The BJP also won 12 of the 13 seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes in the State, most of them in the urban and semi-urban areas.

Mr. Modi improved on his margin of victory in the Maninagar constituency in Ahmedabad, despite facing Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dinsha Patel. While he won by a margin of about 73,000 votes against Yatin Oza in the last elections, he won by 87,161 votes against Mr. Patel this time. Mr. Modi secured 1,39,568 votes and Mr. Patel 52,407.

The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Jan Shakti Party failed to open their account.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National