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This time, the BJP will contest on all 182 assembly seats (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
For minority voters, more of same on offer; ‘no enthusiasm’ about parties
The forthcoming Gujarat Assembly polls is set to see many key contests, but the one for minority votes is rather tepid, with major political parties circumspect about fielding Muslim candidates, as always. The Muslim community, which forms approximately nine per cent of the total population of Gujarat, says in one voice that it is “unexcited” about the polls, as “none of the parties” has ever lived up to their pre-poll promises or reached out to the community.
This time, across the 182 constituencies, the Congress has fielded only six Muslim candidates — a figure it has not crossed since 2002. The BJP — which even has a Christian candidate in the fray after two decades, from the Vyara constituency — last fielded a Muslim candidate in 1998 from the Vagra Assembly seat, unsuccessfully. The new entrant, Aam Aadmi Party, has fielded three Muslims, while the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has fielded 11 Muslim candidates out of a total 13 nominations. There are, of course, several Independent candidates from the community, who are expected to dent the vote share primarily of the Congress party.
A firebrand Congress MLA’s worry: Division of Thakor votes
From waving at villagers from the sunroof of her SUV to riding pillion at a motorbike rally, Congress MLA Geniben Thakor (46) has her own star value in the Bhabhar taluka of Vav Assembly constituency in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.
“I am in my pihar (maternal village) today,” Thakor says in the village of Mera on Thursday morning as a crowd of women, not interested in what the other leaders at the event had to say, suddenly stand up and rush to listen to what their “daughter and sister” had to say. The firebrand Congress MLA plays to the gallery and goes on to say, “Vote for your daughter. I do not need to give a bhashan (lecture) about the BJP or the Congress in Mera village. Either I win or lose but I am always with you in your happiness or sorrow. There is not a single family in the village I have not personally reached out to during the Covid pandemic.”
The other Amit Shah: Former mayor, now a candidate, leads BJP charge in Ahmedabad
MOST BJP workers accompanying Amit Popatlal Shah, 63, the former mayor of Ahmedabad, struggle to match his energy and fast pace of walking, as the current chief of the Ahmedabad BJP unit hits the campaign trail across the Ellisbridge Assembly constituency. Shah is adamant the AAP won’t make a dent at any of Ahmedabad city’s 16 Assembly seats. He is also confident of personally winning by over 80,000 votes. Once elected, he has vowed to resolve all disputes related to the Disturbed Areas Act in the Paldi area of his constituency.
At a Navrangpura rally on November 23, the second of the day for Shah in which he and his entourage covered nearly four kilometres on foot across residential societies as part of his pre-poll outreach, the public reception was mixed, often lukewarm. At times, Shah could be seen waving at empty balconies, with intrigued shopkeepers and bystanders reluctantly waving back, that too, intermittently.
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