Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: Big wins for BJP's Bhupendra Patel, Hardik Patel; no luck for AAP's Isudan Gadhvi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has had its way in Gujarat, winning 156 seats in the 182-member Assembly.The saffron party registered its best-ever result in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.The Congress, meanwhile, fell far behind with 17 seats.The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which cut into the Congress' votes, won five seats.Let's take a look at how the bigwigs fared.

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Bhupendra PatelBJP’s incumbent chief minister Bhupendra Patel  won big from Ghatlodia, the urban constituency in Ahmedabad city.Patel received an eye-popping 21,3530 votes, leaving the Congress’ Amee Yagnik (21,267 votes) and AAP’s Vijay Patel (16,194) in his dust.In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, the BJP strongman won with a record margin of 1.17 lakh votes against Congress candidate Shashikant Bhurabhai despite the Patidar quota agitation in 2015, which was then led by Hardik Patel.The constituency is known to be a saffron stronghold and before Bhupendra Patel, it gave the state another CM, Anandiben Patel.[caption id="attachment_11771911" align="alignnone" width="640"] Incumbent chief minister Bhupendra Patel is leading in Ghatlodia. PTI[/caption]Hardik Patel The Patidar quota agitation leader, who was earlier in the Congress, is contesting his first election from his hometown Viramgam as a BJP candidate.[caption id="attachment_11771931" align="alignnone" width="640"] This is Hardik Patel's first election from his hometown Viramgam as a BJP candidate. PTI[/caption]He won from the constituency, which has predominantly been a Congress seat, with 99,155 votes.The party won the election here in 1998, 2012 and 2017. The BJP has been able to bag this seat twice in recent years — in 2002 and 2007.Congress’ Lakhabhai Bharwad and AAP’s Kuvarji received 42,724 and 47,448 votes respectively.Bharwad in 2017 won by 6,548 votes and a 41.25 per cent vote share.Also read: Explained: How votes are counted for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly electionsJignesh Mevani The 42-year-old Dalit leader contesting a Congress candidate from the Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district  has triumphed with 94,765 votes.Mevani defeated BJP’s Manilal Vaghela, a former Congress MLA from the seat, who received 89,837 votes.Meanwhile,  the AAP’s prominent Dalit rights activist Dalpat Bhatia got just 4,493 votes.[caption id="attachment_11771941" align="alignnone" width="640"] Firebrand leader Jignesh Mevani is leading from the Vadgam seat. PTI[/caption]Mevani has repeated his success from the 2017 elections, which he won as an Independent candidate. Back then, Congress and AAP did not field a candidate against Mevani. The former changed the seat of its sitting lawmaker, Manibhai Vaghela, to neighbouring Idar.Isudan GadhviAAP’s chief ministerial candidate Isudan Gadhvi has lost from the Khambalia seat, getting 59,089 votes.Gadhvi was deafeated by BJP’s Mulu Bera, who got 77,384 votes.Senior Congress leader and incumbent MLA Vikram Madam received 44,715 votes.[caption id="attachment_11771951" align="alignnone" width="640"] Isudan Gadhvi is AAP’s chief ministerial candidate. AFP[/caption]Gadhvi hails from the village of Pipaliya in Khambhalia taluka of the Dwarka district. The constituency is dominated electorally by the Ahir community, listed in the Other Backward Classes (OBC). Since 1972 only candidates from this community have been elected from the seat, according to a report in The Indian Express.Alpesh Thakor BJP’s Alpesh Thakor has also emerged victorious from Gandhinagar South with 1,34,051 votes.The seat is currently held by BJP’s Shambhuji Chelaji Thakor.A majority of voters in the constituency are from the Thakor community.[caption id="attachment_11771971" align="alignnone" width="640"] Alphesh Thakor is the BJP candidate from the Gandhinagar seat. PTI[/caption]Grassroots candidate Himanshu Patel from Congress and Dolat Patel of the AAP got 90,987 and 11,195 votes respectively.Gopal ItaliaAAP’s Gujarat chief Gopal Italia, who was in the race for the party’s chief ministerial candidate, lost from the Patidar-dominated Katargam Assembly seat in Surat city.[caption id="attachment_11771991" align="alignnone" width="640"] Gopal Italia is the AAP