Gujarat polls: Will BJP get its hat-trick in Dabhoi constituency?

VADODARA: Dabhoi constituency in Vadodara district holds an interesting record. Ever since it was formed in 1962, voters here never gave a chance to the same candidate, barring 2017 when the BJP won it for two consecutive assembly elections.
Shailesh Mehta alias Sotta, who broke the jinx in 2012, has been fielded again by the party this time hopes to win the seat for the third time in a row. "Even this is a record of sorts as BJP has never repeated its candidate for the Dabhoi seat. I am the first one to be given the ticket for the second consecutive time," Mehta told TOI. Voters here have elected candidates of the National Congress (O), Janata Party, and even Swatantra Party. But since 1995, BJP and Congress have won Dabhoi in turns.
In 1998, Siddharth Patel, son of former Gujarat chief minister Chimanbhai Patel, won the Dabhoi seat but lost in 2002 to BJP's CM Patel. Siddharth wrested back the seat in 2007 by defeating BJP's Atul Patel but he had to bite the dust in 2012 hustings by BJP's Balkrishna Patel by a narrow margin of over 5,100 votes.
BJP then fielded Mehta in 2017 against Siddharth. Odds were in favour of Siddharth as the seat has nearly 25 percent voters from the Patel community but Mehta surprised everyone by winning the seat. "I will win this time too as I have done a lot of development work in my constituency including building roads, over-bridges, and even a sports complex project," Mehta claimed.
Congress is yet to declare its candidate for Dabhoi. It's a historical town, which was called Darbhavati centuries ago, and its existence dates back to 6th century. Chalukya king Jaysimha Siddharaja did fortification of this town in the 12th century and the four ornamentally designed gates of this fort still stand tall amid all the modern buildings around.
Dabhoi was the district headquarters during Mughal rule in Gujarat. Geographically it is now significantly positioned near SOU.