Gujarat Assembly Election 2017 Results: 34 BJP seats swung in favour of Congress

In the neck-and-neck fi ght between both parties, the opposition Congress managed to wrest over 30 seats from the BJP that were won by the ruling party in the 2012 General Assembly Election. On the other hand, only 15 seats that Congress had won in 2012 swung in favour of the BJP. Though Congress failed to reach the magic number to form the government, it can fi nd solace in upsetting the BJP’s applecart in their own bastions.

While 34 BJP seats swung in favour of the Congress, only 15 seats of the Congress went into the BJP’s kitty. Many factors can be attributed to more swing seats for the Congress namely, the Patidar effect, a resurgent Rahul Gandhi, some of the BJP candidates losing their appeal and the anti-incumbency effect. The major setback for BJP were Somnath, Deodar, Jamjodhpur, Junagadh, also Gadhada where Atmaram Parmar who had won in 2012 lost to Praveen Maru in 2017.

Other important seats that BJP lost to Congress include Vav where minister Shankar Chaudhary lost to Geniben Thakor by 6,655 votes. Dasada constituency saw Ramanbhai Vora lose to Naushadji Solanki, a seat which was won by Makwana Punambhai of BJP in 2012. Anand, Dhari and Morbi too voted in favour of Congress. BJP’s traditional stronghold Khadia seat that became Jamalpur-Khadia after delimitation chose the Congress candidate Imran Khedavala to the BJP’s Bhushan Bhatt.


The BJP also made a dent in Congress constituencies like Kankrej, Kadi, Himmatnagar, Prantij, Dahegam, Sanand, Jetpur, Jamnagar North, Mehmedabad, Santrampur, Sankheda and Dharampur. Biggest loss to Congress was Vijapur, which is a Patidardominated constituency which Congress could have retained, as with Palitana which too they lost. One of the biggest losses to Congress is Rajkot East, the only seat it had in Rajkot city.

The Godhra seat won by Congress in 2012 was won by C K Raulji who went to the BJP and won it by just 258 seats. The Vadgam seat won by Congress candidate Manilal Jethabhai Vaghela with 90,375 votes in 2012 went in favour of Independent candidate Jignesh Mevani who got 95,497 votes. On the sidelines, Congress lost three seats to Independent candidates.