Gujarat has always attracted the spotlight during elections owing to its gripping political environment. Eventhough the state has a saffron dominance, 77 seats where the Congress claimed a clear majority in the 2017 Assembly elections, hint at the unpredictability of election outcome this year.
Out of the total vote share in 2017, BJP claimed 50 per cent of the votes in the state, the Indian National Congress made it to a close second with 42.2 per cent votes.
Here are top 5 seats where Congress achieved a high margin victory as recorded by the India Votes:
Mandvi (28.8 per cent)
Among the seats that the Congress won in 2017 Assembly elections, the highest support it received was in Surat’s Mandvi constituency which is reserved for a Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidate.
Here, the grand old party’s Chaudhari Anandbhai Mohanbhai edged over BJP’s Pravinbhai Merjibhai Chaudhari with a margin of 28.8 per cent votes, bagging 96,482 of the total 1,76,767 votes cast.
Anandbhai Chaudhari is representing the INC this year as well, hoping to get the same victo. He will be pitched against Saynaben Gamit from the Aam Aadmi Party and BJP’s Kuvarjibhai Narshibhai Halpati.
Even though INC gained a majority of votes in 2017, it has only won the seat four times in the past since 1972.
Kalavad S.C. (25.6 per cent)
Indian National Congress’s Musadiya Pravinbhai Narashibhai won with a 25.6 per cent margin in the 2017 assembly election in Kalavad, a constituency in Jamnagar district reserved for Scheduled Caste(SC) candidates.
In the 2012 Assembly election, Bhartiya Janata Party’s candidate Chavda Meghjibhai Amarabhai bagged a majority in the constituency, with a mere margin of 4.6 per cent.
Banking on its victory last time, INC's Musadiya Pravinbhai Narashibhai will contest the seat again, while Jignesh Solanki from the AAP and Chavda Meghjibhai Amarabhai from the BJP will be the other candidates.
Jamalpur - Khadia (23 per cent)
In Ahmedabad's Jamalpur-Khadia constituency, Congress candidate Imran Yusufbhai Khedawala beat BJP by a margin of 23.0 per cent with a total of 75,346 votes in his favour out of the 1,27,686 votes casted.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, BJP’s Bhatt Bhushan Ashok had won the seat with a margin of 5.1 per cent.
This year, the contenders for the seat are Harun Nagori from the AAP, Bhushanbhai Bhatt from the BJP, while the Congress has decided to continue with Imran Khedawala.
Anklav (22.2 per cent)
In Anand district’s Anklav constituency, Congress’s Amit Chavda has been winning since the 2012 Assembly elections. In the 2017 Assembly elections, Chavda won with a whopping 22.2 per cent margin, claiming 90,603 votes out of the total 1,51,519 cast. In the 2012 Assembly polls, he had won with a margin of 21.5 per cent votes.
AAP’s Gajendra Singh and BJP’s Gulabsinh Padhiyar are up for a tough competition this year as Congress is yet again having Amit Chavda represent the party in the constituency.
Danilimda (21.2 per cent)
INC’s Parmar Shailesh Manharbhai bagged a 21.2 per cent margin in Ahmedabad’s Danilimda constituency, a Scheduled Caste(SC) reserved seat, in the 2017 Assembly elections. These numbers are up from his victory back in 2012 with a margin of 10.4 per cent hinting at an increase in his popularity among electors.
This year, Manharbhai will face Nareshkumar Shankarlal Vyas from BJP and Dinesh Kapadia from the Aam Aadmi Party.
Gujarat will vote in two phases, on December 1 and 5. The results will be out on December 8.