Gandhinagar South Election Results 2022: Can BJP’s Alpesh Thakor recreate the magic?

Gandhinagar South went to polls in the second phase of elections in Gujarat. It was one of the 93 constituencies across 14 districts in the central and northern regions of Gujarat.

Gandhinagar South, where most of the voters are from the urban areas, is a stronghold of the BJP. The seat came into existence from the Gandhinagar district after the delimitation exercise in 2008.

The BJP that won both the 2012 and 2017 assembly elections from the seat, fielded OBC candidate Alpesh Thakor from the constituency. Shambhuji Thakor won the seat for BJP in the previous elections.

Alpesh Thakor, who was with the Congress prior to joining BJP, was one of the main faces of the anti-BJP campaign in the 2017 polls. He joined BJP in 2019. While he had won in 2017 with the Congress ticket, he lost the bypoll in 2019 from the Radhanpur seat. So, while Gandhinagar South has always remained in the BJP fold, it remains to be seen if Thakor can recreate his 2017 magic for the BJP.

Congress, meanwhile, has fielded its spokesperson Himanshu Patel from the seat. While Patel faced a steep battle, he focused on issues such as education, rural areas to take down Thakor. During his campaign in Tarapur, he alleged that BJP shut down 66 government schools. He said that many want to educate children in the rural areas but are denied permission. Patel said that the corporators have not spent anything on the work required and that Narmada waters have not been provided for irrigation.

It must be mentioned here that Alpesh Thakor is from the Thakor community, which is the largest group in the constituency. Himanshu Patel is a Patidar, which is the second largest community. The AAP candidate Dolat Patel is also a Patidar.

Meanwhile, all the exit polls predict a sweeping win for BJP in Gujarat. India Today Axis My India exit poll predicts BJP to win the halfway-mark comfortably with 129-151 seats, Congress with 16-30 seats, AAP with 9-21 seats and others with 2-6 seats.

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