AAP, AIMIM break up minority votes of Congress in Gujarat, BJP positive factors
8 min readBy PTI
AHMEDABAD: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM appear to have dented the Congress’s sway over votes of minorities in Gujarat within the simply concluded Assembly polls, bringing down the primary Opposition celebration’s vote margin significantly in numerous seats throughout the state.
Assembly polls have been held on December 1 and 5, and votes have been counted on December 8.
The minorities, primarily Muslims, have been loyal voters of the Congress for the final a number of a long time, particularly after the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
According to Congress sources, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on most events publish the 2002 riots, has made electoral calculations retaining in thoughts the consolidation of Hindu votes no matter castes.
This prompted the primary Opposition celebration to safe its minority votes, one of many final elements of the Congress’s previous technique of KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) social engineering, which as soon as was once its successful formulation within the state, they mentioned.
However, the entry of the AAP and the Hyderabad-headquartered All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has not solely disturbed Congress’s minority vote financial institution however has additionally helped the ruling BJP, which didn’t area a single Muslim candidate within the elections, at the price of the Congress.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, conventional political events fielded only a few Muslim candidates in Gujarat, which has a 182-member Assembly.
The Congress had fielded six Muslim candidates, whereas the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP gave tickets to a few members of the minority neighborhood.
The AIMIM contested 13 Assembly seats and fielded Muslim nominees on 12 of them. The AIMIM might need didn’t win a single seat and the AAP might need gained simply 5, however they derailed the Congress’s prospects and vote share in quite a few seats by splitting their conventional votes.
In the minority-dominated Dariapur seat, thought of a Congress bastion, sitting Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh misplaced to BJP’s Kaushik Jain by a margin of 5,243 votes. Shaikh polled 55,847 votes, whereas his nearest BJP rival bagged 61,090 ballots. The successful distinction was made by AAP and AIMIM candidates, who polled 4,164 and 1,771 votes, respectively.
In Jamalpur-Khadia, the Congress’s Imran Khedawala obtained a 3rd consecutive time period, however with a diminished mandate of 58,487 votes, down from 75,000 in 2017. AIMIM’s state president Sabir Kabliwala bagged 15,677 votes and the AAP 5,887 within the constituency in Ahmedabad district.
In the Bapunagar seat, sitting Congress MLA Himmatsinh Patel misplaced to BJP’s Dineshsinh Kushwaha by a margin of 12,070 votes. AAP and Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Muslim candidates made the distinction in margin between the Congress and the BJP. The AAP and the SP polled 6,384 and three,671 votes, respectively.
In the Mangrol seat, two-time sitting Congress MLA Babubhai Vaja misplaced to BJP’s Kargatiya Lakhabhai by 22,501 votes.
The AAP and the AIMIM polled 34,314 and 10,789 votes, respectively, thus contributing within the defeat of the grand previous celebration within the Assembly phase in Junagadh district.
The Congress gained the Muslim and Dalit-dominated Danilimda Assembly phase in Ahmedabad, regardless of the AAP and the AIMIM chopping into its votes and the BJP placing up a robust battle.
Sitting Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar gained by defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Nareshbhai Vyas, by a margin of 13,525 votes.
Parmar polled 68,906 votes as in comparison with 55,381 ballots forged in favour of Vyas.
AAP candidate Soma Kapadia polled 22,934 votes, whereas AIMIM’s Kaushika Parmar garnered 2,464.
Although Parmar gained, his victory margin was a lot decrease than in 2012 and 2017.
In the Godhra seat, Bharatiya Janata Party’s C Ok Raulji defeated his Congress rival Rashmitaben Chauhan by 35,198 votes. Raulji bagged 96,223 votes, whereas Chauhan obtained 61,025. In 2017, the BJP’s victory margin was simply 358 votes.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajeshbhai Patel secured 11,827 votes, whereas the AIMIM’s Hasan Kachaba garnered 9,508 ballots, consuming into Congress conventional votes within the communally-sensitive Assembly seat of Godhra, the place the burning of an categorical practice had triggered state-wide communal riots 20 years again.
BJP MLA Sangita Patil registered a 3rd straight win in Surat’s Marathi and Muslim-dominated Limbayat constituency. She defeated her nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party’s Pankaj Tayede, by a margin of 58,009 votes. The AAP elbowed out the Congress, the normal fundamental Opposition on this seat, to a distant third place. Patil polled 95,696 votes as in comparison with 37,687 votes in favour of Tayede. Congress candidate Gopalbhai Patil completed third with 29,436, whereas the AIMIM was a distant fourth with 5,216 votes.
The Vejalpur seat in Ahmedabad district, which incorporates the big Muslim ghetto of Juhapura, has a 35 per cent vote share of the minority neighborhood.
According to political analysts, the voting sample in Muslim-dominated seats reveals minorities have shifted loyalties because the Congress has didn’t emerge as a substitute for the BJP.
“The Congress’s silent campaign was a complete flop show as it failed to put up an alternative, and just like any common voters, a large section of minorities appeared to have switched to the AAP. The Congress lacked the momentum in the entire election,” political analyst Hemant Shah mentioned.
Echoing him, political analyst Dilip Gohil maintained the ballot outcomes mirror voters craving for an alternate have discovered the AAP as a substitute of the Congress.
“Be it minorities or the commoner, they were looking for an alternative, and they have found it in the AAP. The problem for the Congress is they might have secured the distant second position, but they have lost the perception battle to the AAP. And this would prove politically fatal for the Congress as they would find it hard to revive themselves,” he mentioned.
AHMEDABAD: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM appear to have dented the Congress’s sway over votes of minorities in Gujarat within the simply concluded Assembly polls, bringing down the primary Opposition celebration’s vote margin significantly in numerous seats throughout the state.
Assembly polls have been held on December 1 and 5, and votes have been counted on December 8.
The minorities, primarily Muslims, have been loyal voters of the Congress for the final a number of a long time, particularly after the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
According to Congress sources, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on most events publish the 2002 riots, has made electoral calculations retaining in thoughts the consolidation of Hindu votes no matter castes.
This prompted the primary Opposition celebration to safe its minority votes, one of many final elements of the Congress’s previous technique of KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) social engineering, which as soon as was once its successful formulation within the state, they mentioned.
However, the entry of the AAP and the Hyderabad-headquartered All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has not solely disturbed Congress’s minority vote financial institution however has additionally helped the ruling BJP, which didn’t area a single Muslim candidate within the elections, at the price of the Congress.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, conventional political events fielded only a few Muslim candidates in Gujarat, which has a 182-member Assembly.
The Congress had fielded six Muslim candidates, whereas the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP gave tickets to a few members of the minority neighborhood.
The AIMIM contested 13 Assembly seats and fielded Muslim nominees on 12 of them. The AIMIM might need didn’t win a single seat and the AAP might need gained simply 5, however they derailed the Congress’s prospects and vote share in quite a few seats by splitting their conventional votes.
In the minority-dominated Dariapur seat, thought of a Congress bastion, sitting Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh misplaced to BJP’s Kaushik Jain by a margin of 5,243 votes. Shaikh polled 55,847 votes, whereas his nearest BJP rival bagged 61,090 ballots. The successful distinction was made by AAP and AIMIM candidates, who polled 4,164 and 1,771 votes, respectively.
In Jamalpur-Khadia, the Congress’s Imran Khedawala obtained a 3rd consecutive time period, however with a diminished mandate of 58,487 votes, down from 75,000 in 2017. AIMIM’s state president Sabir Kabliwala bagged 15,677 votes and the AAP 5,887 within the constituency in Ahmedabad district.
In the Bapunagar seat, sitting Congress MLA Himmatsinh Patel misplaced to BJP’s Dineshsinh Kushwaha by a margin of 12,070 votes. AAP and Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Muslim candidates made the distinction in margin between the Congress and the BJP. The AAP and the SP polled 6,384 and three,671 votes, respectively.
In the Mangrol seat, two-time sitting Congress MLA Babubhai Vaja misplaced to BJP’s Kargatiya Lakhabhai by 22,501 votes.
The AAP and the AIMIM polled 34,314 and 10,789 votes, respectively, thus contributing within the defeat of the grand previous celebration within the Assembly phase in Junagadh district.
The Congress gained the Muslim and Dalit-dominated Danilimda Assembly phase in Ahmedabad, regardless of the AAP and the AIMIM chopping into its votes and the BJP placing up a robust battle.
Sitting Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar gained by defeating his nearest rival, BJP’s Nareshbhai Vyas, by a margin of 13,525 votes.
Parmar polled 68,906 votes as in comparison with 55,381 ballots forged in favour of Vyas.
AAP candidate Soma Kapadia polled 22,934 votes, whereas AIMIM’s Kaushika Parmar garnered 2,464.
Although Parmar gained, his victory margin was a lot decrease than in 2012 and 2017.
In the Godhra seat, Bharatiya Janata Party’s C Ok Raulji defeated his Congress rival Rashmitaben Chauhan by 35,198 votes. Raulji bagged 96,223 votes, whereas Chauhan obtained 61,025. In 2017, the BJP’s victory margin was simply 358 votes.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajeshbhai Patel secured 11,827 votes, whereas the AIMIM’s Hasan Kachaba garnered 9,508 ballots, consuming into Congress conventional votes within the communally-sensitive Assembly seat of Godhra, the place the burning of an categorical practice had triggered state-wide communal riots 20 years again.
BJP MLA Sangita Patil registered a 3rd straight win in Surat’s Marathi and Muslim-dominated Limbayat constituency. She defeated her nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party’s Pankaj Tayede, by a margin of 58,009 votes. The AAP elbowed out the Congress, the normal fundamental Opposition on this seat, to a distant third place. Patil polled 95,696 votes as in comparison with 37,687 votes in favour of Tayede. Congress candidate Gopalbhai Patil completed third with 29,436, whereas the AIMIM was a distant fourth with 5,216 votes.
The Vejalpur seat in Ahmedabad district, which incorporates the big Muslim ghetto of Juhapura, has a 35 per cent vote share of the minority neighborhood.
According to political analysts, the voting sample in Muslim-dominated seats reveals minorities have shifted loyalties because the Congress has didn’t emerge as a substitute for the BJP.
“The Congress’s silent campaign was a complete flop show as it failed to put up an alternative, and just like any common voters, a large section of minorities appeared to have switched to the AAP. The Congress lacked the momentum in the entire election,” political analyst Hemant Shah mentioned.
Echoing him, political analyst Dilip Gohil maintained the ballot outcomes mirror voters craving for an alternate have discovered the AAP as a substitute of the Congress.
“Be it minorities or the commoner, they were looking for an alternative, and they have found it in the AAP. The problem for the Congress is they might have secured the distant second position, but they have lost the perception battle to the AAP. And this would prove politically fatal for the Congress as they would find it hard to revive themselves,” he mentioned.
