Amreli: Congress' 'Giant killer' Paresh Dhanani gets shock defeat against BJP's Kaushik Vekariya

Congress leader Paresh Dhanani, who won the Patidar-dominated Amreli assembly constituency in three elections, appeared headed for a shock defeat against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) district unit chief Kaushik Vekariya by nearly 50,000 votes.

Amreli assembly constituency falls in Amreli district and is part of Amreli LS constituency. The main question here is whether Congress leader Paresh Dhanani would be able to win for the fourth time, especially when the Patidar quota agitation has faded out.

Dhanani became known as a 'giant killer' after he defeated state BJP stalwart Parshottam Rupala at a young age in 2002.


Though he lost in 2007, he once again captured the Patidar-dominated seat in 2012 and 2017. He has also served as the Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded its district unit chief Kaushik Vekariya from the seat, while the AAP has given ticket to Ravi Dhanani.

Paresh Dhanani's supporters say that he would have become the chief minister had the Congress won a majority in 2017. The opposition party did much better in 2017 than in previous times, but could not make it.

This time, there was an expectation of a tough contest with the Aam Aadmi Party expected to eat into the Congress's traditional vote banks.

Amreli assembly constituency comprises the following segments: a) Amreli city b) Amreli Taluka c) Vadia Taluka – entire taluka except village Devalki

Besides more than 50 per cent Patidar voters, the constituency has 15 per cent Koli population which falls in the OBC category. Upper castes, Dalits and Muslims make up the rest.

Barring Amreli town, the constituency is predominantly rural. During the last elections the constituency had 2.68 lakh registered voters, out of which 63.33 per cent cast their vote.