Vijay Rupani is the first Chief Minister since Narendra Modi to face elections in Gujarat. (File photo)
Highlights
- Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani leads from Rajkot West constituency
- He was briefly trailing behind Congress rival Indranil Rajguru
- Rajkot West has 75,000 Patidars voters, a community upset with BJP
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani won the election on Monday with over 25,000 votes. Mr Rupani, the state chief since August last year, was behind his Congress rival Indranil Rajguru in Rajkot West in the first hour.
Mr Rupani is the first Chief Minister since Narendra Modi to face elections in Gujarat.
Rajkot West is a prestige seat for the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested the first-ever election of his life from this constituency and won.
Rajkot is the financial nerve-centre of the Saurashtra region, where the Congress is seen to have made big gains.
There are 75,000 Patidar votes in the constituency; the community, which is aggressively campaigning for quota in government jobs and education, has been upset with the BJP and its biggest face Hardik Patel is supporting the Congress.
Elections for the 182-seat Gujarat assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after a bitter campaign in which PM Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi traded barbs.