AAP fields Chaitar Vasava from Bharuch LS seat; Ahmed Patel's children unhappy

GANDHINAGAR: The INDIA alliance on Saturday assigned Bharuch and Bhavnagar Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), retaining 24 seats for the Congress to contest in the general election.

The decision dashed the long nourished political ambitions of the children of the late Congress heavyweight Ahmed Patel, who had last won from Bharuch in 1985. While the seat has remained with the BJP since 1989, both the daughter and son of Ahmed Patel, Mumtaz and Faisal, have been aggressively staking their claims on the seat on sentimental grounds ever since their father's demise.

Their pitch was queered by Chaitar Vasava, a former aide of Mahesh Vasava, who rebelled against the tribal strongman Chhotu Vasava and his son Mahesh ahead of the 2021 assembly election and joined the AAP and snatched Dediapada from Mahesh with a resounding victory.


Among the seven assembly seats that constitute Bharuch Lok Sabha seat, only Dediapada (ST) has a non-BJP MLA.

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP polled 55.8% of the votes in the constituency, while the Congress got around 26.6% votes and the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) got 12.6%.

Even before announcement of the seat-sharing, Vasava started his campaign from Jhagadia block in Bharuch on Thursday.

However, Mumtaz Patel took to social media and said in a post, "Deeply apologize to our district cadre for not being able to secure the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in alliance. I share your disappointment. Together, we will regroup to make Congress stronger. We won't let Ahmed Patel's 45 years of Legacy go in vain."

Asserting he would meet the party's central leadership, Faisal Patel said, "There is still a lot of time for nomination and election. A lot of things can still happen. The workers and I are against this alliance but we will accept whatever the party says."