Rajkot, Gujarat: Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Rupani won from Rajkot West seat in the assembly elections by a heavy margin of 54,300 votes against Congress’ Indranil Rajyaguru.
In the morning hours when the counting began, Rupani was trailing but later on marched ahead of his Congress rival.
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Earlier known as Rajkot-II, the seat is considered as ‘safe’ for the saffron party which has been representing it since 1985. Vajubhai Vala, incumbent governor of Karnataka, had won the seat seven times for the BJP — from 1985 to 2012.
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Though Rajkot-West is a stronghold of the RSS, the Congress has mounted a strong challenge by bringing in Rajyaguru, the sitting MLA from Rajkot East, to rework the caste combination in the party’s favour.