BJP’s Swarupji Thakor wins from Vav in razor-tight contest against Congress

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the party candidate had a clear lead till the 15th round but began slipping from the 16th round

AHMEDABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Swarupji Thakor on Saturday won the Vav assembly seat in Gujarat, defeating Gulabsinh Rajput of the Congress in a razor-tight contest by a lead of just about 2,442 votes.

Swarupji Thakor secured 92,129 votes after 24 rounds of counting against Gulabsinh Rajput of the Congress who had 89,734 votes. (X@ChaudhryShankar)

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the party has accepted defeat. He said the Congress candidate had a clear lead till the 15th round but began slipping from the 16th round. In the final few rounds of counting, Swarupji Thakor overtook Rajput and gained a narrow lead. According to the Election Commission of India website, Thakor secured 92,176 votes after 24 rounds of counting against Rajput who had 89,734 votes.

Mavji Patel, who contested as an Independent candidate after being denied a ticket by the BJP, received 27,195 votes.

The by-election, which recorded a 70.55% voter turnout on November 13, was necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Geniben Thakor was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year from Banaskantha constituency.

Voting was conducted across 321 polling booths in 192 polling stations, with 3.1 lakh voters - 1.61 lakh men and 1.49 lakh women - eligible to exercise their franchise. The constituency’s demographic makeup includes approximately 83,000 voters from the Thakor community, 50,000 from the Chaudhary community, 43,000 Dalits, 25,000 Maldharis (OBC), and 18,000 Brahmins.

The BJP’s campaign was led by state party president CR Patil, while the Congress campaign saw active participation from state party president Shaktisinh Gohil and legislative party leader Amit Chavda.

The BJP had first fielded Swaroopji Thakor from the Vav seat during the 2022 assembly election when he was pitted against Geniben Thakor, who was the incumbent legislator, and lost. Geniben first won the seat in the 2017 state assembly elections when she recorded a notable victory against BJP strongman and assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary in the 2017 assembly election.