Gujarat polls: Denied ticket, NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja left in lurch

Cross voting for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections has left Kutiyana strongman Kandhal Jadeja high and dry in 2022.

Kandhal Jadeja, the two-term NCP MLA from the constituency, has to fend for himself now as his party, which has joined hands with the Congress, has allotted the Kutiyana seat to a Congress candidate. This leaves Jadeja without a ticket.

Kandhal, the son of 'God Mother' fame Santokben Jadeja, therefore resigned from NCP and filed nomination as an independent candidate. According to sources, Kandhal nursed hopes of being adopted by the BJP after he voted for their party candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls. However, with the BJP showing no such interest, Kandhal's position in the NCP became untenable.


Kandhal Jadeja, with his share of notoriety, bears the fearsome legacy of his father Sharman Munja and mother Santokben, who virtually ruled the badlands of Saurashtra in their heydays. Kandhal has been booked in several criminal cases mostly related to the Arms and Explosives Act. However, being a local boy from the Mer community has always gives him an advantage.

NCP has been given three seats -- Umreth in Anand district, Devgarh Baria in Dahod district and Naroda in Ahmedabad. However, now Congress workers in Umreth have started protesting against the alliance stating that they are only being used to work for a party that they don't have anything to do with.