Seven BJP MLAs including minister taste defeat in Gujarat

Despite the ruling BJP's massive victory in Gujarat Assembly elections, seven of its sitting MLAs including a state minister lost on Thursday. Kirtisinh Vaghela, MLA from Kankrej seat in Banaskantha district and Minister of State for Primary, Secondary and Adult Education lost to the Congress' Amrutji Thakor, the brother of Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor.

In an apparent move to nullify anti-incumbency sentiment, the BJP had denied tickets to nearly 40 of its sitting MLAs in these elections. Former cabinet minister and sitting MLA from Chanasma seat in Patan district, Dilip Thakor, lost to the Congress's Dinesh Thakor by a thin margin of some 1,300 votes.

Another former cabinet-rank minister Babu Bokhiria lost to his arch rival Arjun Modhwadia of the Congress from Porbandar. Raman Patel, MLA from Vijapur, and Mahesh Raval, sitting Khambhat MLA also lost to their Congress rivals.


In a surprising result, six-time MLA from Gariadhar seat in Bhavnagar district, Keshu Nakrani, lost to the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Sudhir Vaghani. Sitting BJP MLA from Waghodia seat Madhu Shrivastav, who stood as an independent candidate after being denied the party ticket, lost, coming in third. Another independent candidate Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, also a BJP rebel, won from the seat while the BJP's official candidate Ashvin Patel came second.