AHMEDABAD: After a decade of dominance in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s winning streak ended on Tuesday as Congress candidate Geniben Thakor triumphed in Banaskantha, defeating BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary by over 30,000 votes.
For the first time since 2014, the Opposition has won a Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. Banaskantha, infamous for Prime Minister Modi’s buffalo remark and known as the native place of billionaire Gautam Adani, has seen a significant political shift. Of the 26 seats, the grand old party has captured Banaskantha seat, delivering a crushing blow to the ruling BJP. State BJP president CR Paatil had ambitiously aimed to win all 26 seats with margins exceeding 5 lakh votes. However, the party faced a stinging defeat.
Thakor, a dynamic force within the Congress in Gujarat, led a successful crowdfunding campaign to contest the polls.
At a press conference in the state BJP office, CR Patil stated, “We had set a target of winning all 26 seats, but there must have been some shortcomings on our part, so we could not secure one seat. We will work to rectify our mistakes.”
This time, the BJP fielded Rekha Ben Chowdhury for the Banaskantha seat, replacing Parbat Patel, who was the winning candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, Parbat Patel’s ticket was revoked, leading to the inactivity of his supporters. Additionally, the ongoing Kshatriya movement in Gujarat contributed to the BJP’s loss in this seat, as there is a significant number of Kshatriya voters in the region.
