BJP Wins Gujarat's Jhagadia For 1st Time, Unseat 7-Time MLA Chhotubhai Vasava

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday registered its first-ever victory in Gujarat's Jhagadia Assembly seat, where its candidate Ritesh Vasava defeated heavyweight tribal leader and seven-time MLA Chhotubhai Vasava by 23,500 votes.

Ritesh Vasava bagged 89,933 votes, while Chhotubhai Vasava secured 66,433 ballots.

Seventy-eight year old Chhotubhai Vasava lost to his one-time aide Ritesh Vasava in the Scheduled Tribes-reserved constituency in Bharuch district.

This was for the first time the BJP has won this Assembly seat.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress stood at a distant third and fourth position, bagging 19,722 and 15,219 votes, respectively.

According to Election Commission (EC) figures, the tribal-dominated seat was represented in the Assembly by the Congress in 1962, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1980 and 1985. Since 1990, Chhotubhai Vasava had won the seat for seven straight terms as the candidate of the Janata Dal, the Janata Dal (United), as an independent and then as the nominee of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) which he founded.

Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had campaigned for the BJP candidate in the constituency.

In this election, the BTP founder's son, Mahesh Vasava, who is also the party president, entered the fray from Jhagadia as the party's official candidate. Soon, his father Chhotubhai Vasava jumped into the poll arena as an independent, revealing fissures in the family.

Finally, Mahesh Vasava, the sitting MLA from the Dediapada constituency in Bharuch district, withdrew from the contest to avoid making it a father versus son fight.

The BTP initially tied up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the December elections, but later walked out of the alliance.

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