GG News Bureau
Banaskantha, 13th Nov. The Vav assembly seat in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district witnessed a provisional voter turnout of 68.01% in the by-election held on Wednesday, according to data released by the Election Commission. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) confirmed that the polling proceeded peacefully with no untoward incidents reported.
Polling, which began at 7 am, saw BJP candidate Swarupji Thakor among the early voters. The CEO’s statement highlighted that webcasting was conducted from all 321 polling stations to ensure transparency in the election process. Additionally, one ballot unit, a control unit, and three Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were replaced due to malfunctioning.
While BJP’s Thakor and Congress’s Gulabsinh Rajput are the primary contenders, the entry of Mavji Patel, a rebel BJP candidate contesting as an independent, has added an interesting dimension to the race. Patel, a former BJP member, was suspended by the party after announcing his independent candidacy.
Congress MP from Banaskantha, Geniben Thakor, who resigned as the Vav MLA following her election to the Lok Sabha, also cast her vote in the morning. She appealed to voters to ensure a high turnout. Rajput, who is not a registered voter in Vav, offered prayers at a temple in the constituency, while Thakor voted at a polling booth in her native village, Abasana.
In total, seven candidates are in the fray, including six independents and one from the Bharatiya Jan Parishad party. The by-election was necessitated after the resignation of Geniben Thakor from the Vav seat, following her Lok Sabha win in June.
The constituency has 3.1 lakh eligible voters, with 1.61 lakh men and 1.49 lakh women. A total of 1,412 polling officials were deployed for the election, utilizing 321 ballot units and 321 control units.
The bypoll is considered significant as BJP’s Swarupji Thakor had lost to Congress’s Geniben Thakor in the 2022 assembly elections. The results will be counted on November 23.
Mavji Patel, a prominent figure from the Chaudhary community, has previously held the Vav seat in 1990 as a Janata Dal candidate and has had a fluctuating political career, including switching parties from Congress to BJP and later contesting independently.
In the 2022 elections, BJP’s Thakor lost to Geniben Thakor, and in the 2019 Tharad bypoll, Congress’s Gulabsinh Rajput won against BJP’s candidate. However, Rajput lost to BJP’s Shankar Chaudhary in the 2022 elections. The dynamics of community votes, including the influence of the Thakor, Chaudhary, Dalit, and Maldhari groups, are likely to play a crucial role in the by-election outcome.
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