Gujarat set to send six women MPs to Lok Sabha

AHMEDABAD: All the six women candidates fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 general election from Gujarat, registered impressive, unassailable leads, when counting was taken up on Thursday. The stellar performance of women candidates was evident from the fact that two notched up wins with leads in excess of five lakh votes.
Darshana Jardosh defeated Ashok Patel of the Congress to win the Surat LS seat with a margin of 5.48 lakh votes. On the Vadodara seat, Ranjanben Bhatt was all set to defeat Prashant Patel of the Congress having posted a lead of 5.84 lakh votes. The other women candidates who were set to emerge victorious from Gujarat were Bharti Shiyal, Shardaben Patel, Geeta Rathva and Poonam Maadam.
On the Bhavnagar seat, Bharti Shiyal trounced Manhar Patel of the Congress with a lead of 3.26 lakh votes. Shardaben Patel was set to be first-time MP from Mehsana seat, having posted a lead of over 2.64 lakh against Congress rival A J Patel.
On the ST-reserved Chhota Udepur seat, Geeta Rathva of the BJP defeated Ranjit Rathva of the Congress by a margin of 3.77 lakh votes. Sitting Jamnagar MP Poonam Maadam defeated Mulubhai Kandoriya by a margin of 2.37 lakh votes.
In all, 29 women candidates were in the fray in the state. The Congress fielded just one woman, PAAS leader Geeta Patel on Ahmedabad East LS seat. She lost to Hasmukh Patel of the BJP. Congress has never fielded more than a single woman candidate in last nine parliamentary elections. In 1962, it had fielded two women.
Lesser known parties like Sayukt Vikas Party, Yuva Jan Jagruti Party and the Ambedkar National Congress fielded women candidates, but the majority of women candidates in Gujarat contested as independents.