Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani wins; Alpesh Thakor, Jignesh Mevani also score victory

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani retains his Rajkot West seat. Congress leader Alpesh Thakor and independent Jignesh Mevani also score victory in Gujarat elections.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was earlier trailing in the initial trends, won Rajkot West seat by defeating Congress' Indranil Rajyaguru by a margin of 54,300 votes..

Congress's Arjun Modhwadiya loses from Porbandar to BJP's Babubhai Bokhiriya by 1,855 votes.


Rajkot West has become a prestige seat for the BJP as Rupani is the first CM since Narendra Modi to face elections in Gujarat and Modi had contested the first-ever election of his life from this constituency.

Rajkot is the financial nerve-centre of the Saurashtra region, where Congress has managed to gain some ground against BJP as the trader community was not particularly happy with BJP over GST and demonetisation.

The area also has a considerable Patidar votes. Hardik Patel had led a aggressive campaigning for quota and has announced support for BJP.

Meanwhile, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani wins from Vadgam constituency defeating BJP's Chakravarti Vijaykumar Harkhabhai by 10,785 in Vadgam. Congress' Alpesh Thakor also won Radhanpur seat by defeating Lavingji Thakor of BJP.

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil lost his seat against BJP's Virendrasinh Jadeja from Mandvi seat.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 115 seats while the Congress emerged victorious in 61 seats.