Gujarat Elections 2022: 6 hot seats to watch out for in Phase 2

93 seats went to polls in the second phase of Gujarat elections.

These 93 seats are spread across 14 districts of north and central Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Gandhinagar. Contesting on these 93 seats are 833 candidates from 61 political parties.

Phase 2, by the numbers:

• 93 seats
• 14 districts
• 833 candidates
• 61 political parties

The state has been a strong bastion for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the past 27 years. This time, however, the state witnesses a triple contest as Arvind Kejariwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also made its foray into the elections.

In the second phase, there are some important constituencies including that of the incumbent Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel (Ghatlodia constituency); and Patidar leader Hardik Patel (Viramgam constituency), who is making his poll debut from the BJP.

Here are 6 hot seats in the phase two of Gujarat elections:

1. Ghatlodia, Ahmedabad

• CM Bhupendra Patel, who won the seat in 2017 by a huge margin, is contesting again from this seat. In the two elections held so far (2012 and 2017), the BJP has won the seat by huge margins.
• The seat is interesting because it has given two CMs to the state: Anandiben Patel who won it in 2012 was made the CM in 2014, and Bhupendra Patel who won it in 2017 became CM in 2021.
• In 2017, Bhupendra Patel had defeated the Congress candidate by 1.75 lakh candidates. 
• The Congress has fielded Amee Yagnik from the seat while new entrant AAP has fielded Vijay Patel.
• The seat has never been easy for the Congress; and its candidates have tried hard to get votes. The seat has a strong presence of the Patidar and Rabari community.
• In 2012, the Congress could get only 44,000 votes while in 2017, the Congress candidate, Shashikant Patel, could get only 57,902 votes.

2. Vadgam (SC), Banaskantha

• The Vadgam seat is interesting in Phase 2 of Gujarat polls because Jignesh Mevani, the independent Dalit leader who won it in 2017, is contesting the polls on a Congress ticket this time around.
• On the other hand, Congress MLA Manilal Vaghela who won the seat in 2012 on a Congress ticket, is contesting from the BJP in 2022. Vaghela was reportedly miffed with the Congress for dropping him in 2017 to make way for Mevani from the seat.
• AAP has fielded Dalpat Bhatiya from the seat, who is a former aide of Jignesh Mevani.
• SC and Muslim voters hold the key to power on this seat and thereby, Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM party has also fielded a candidate, Kalpeshbhai Sundhiya.

3. Gandhinagar South, Gandhinagar

• From this seat, former Congress leader Alpesh Thakor is contesting on a BJP ticket. Thakor was part of the anti-BJP stir in 2017.
• He won the Radhanpur seat on a Congress ticket in 2017 but in 2019, he joined the BJP. In the bypolls, he lost to Congress's Raghubai Desai.
• In 2017, the Gandhinagar South seat was won by the BJP's Shambhuji Thakor. In 2022, Alpesh Thakor has replaced Shambhuji Thakor on this seat. 
• The seat has a huge presence of Thakor voters (around 1,00,000), Patel voters (60,000) and Scheduled Caste voters (40,000).
• Though the party's district unit wanted a local leader from the constituency, the party decided to field Thakor from this seat. 
• Congress has fielded Himanshu Patel from this seat and is banking on education and local issues to wrest the seat from the BJP. 

4. Godhra, Panchmahal

• The Godhra seat is a hot seat because of a huge Muslim population, as well as the 2002 Gujarat riots which massively affected this seat. 
• Post the 2002 riots, the Congress's CK Raulji won the seat in 2007 and 2012. 
• The BJP roped Raulji in in 2017, and he helped them snatch the seat from the Congress by a mere 258 votes.
• In 2022, Raulji is up against Rashmita Chauhan of the Congress.
• On this seat, there are at least 10 candidates, out of which five are independent Muslim candidates.
• This also got AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi to campaign extensively in Godhra, and his party's candidate, Hasan Shabbir Kachaba, is contesting from here.
• AAP has fielded Rajeshbhai Sombhai Patel from this seat.

5. Anklav, Anand

• Interestingly, the Anklav seat, which falls in the Anand district, is a strong turf of the Congress party.
• Congress candidate Amit Chavda, who has been winning the seat since 2012, has been fielded once again. Chavda is the cousin of former Gujarat Congress Chief Bharat Solanki, whose father was former Gujarat CM Madhavsinh Solanki.
• BJP has made repeated attempts to win this seat from the Congress and has fielded a new face, Gulabsinh Padhiyar, this time around. 

6. Viramgam, Ahmedabad

• Viramgam is another crucial seat as former Congress leader and one of the main architects of the Patidar agitation in 2017, Hardik Patel, is contesting from this seat.
• Contesting Hardik from this seat is also interesting given that the seat has been retained by the Congress since 2012.
• Congress's Tejashree Patel won the seat in 2012; while in 2017, Congress candidate Lakhabhai Bharwad won it.
• In 2022, while Congress has repeated its candidate, BJP has fielded a strong Hardik Patel.
• A benefit which the Patel leader might have on his side is the presence of a large number of Patidar voters (around 38,000) in an electorate of 2.5 lakh. The Patidar voters are very crucial, and this makes the contest for the BJP interesting on a strong Congress turf.

   

The results of Gujarat elections will be out on December 8.