PremiumJignesh Mevani, the convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch and a Dalit leader, had won from the Vadgam seat in Gujarat's Banaskantha district in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections as an Independent candidate.
Gujarat Assembly elections 2022: The Vadgam constituency in the Banaskantha district is one of the keenly watched assembly seats as incumbent MLA Jignesh Mevani who previously won as an independent candidate in 2017 state assembly elections from here, is now contesting as a Congress contender this year. Last year, Mevani joined the Congress party and was appointed as its state working president in July this year.
Vadgam constituency, a seat reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, had a large population of Dalits. Apart from Dalits, Muslims also forms the largest chunk of the electorate here, followed by other communities like Thakors, Darbars, and Chaudhary. Congress has won the seat four times since 1995 in Gujarat.
Mevani will face a tough electoral battle in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections that are scheduled to take place in two phases in early December. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Manilal Vaghela against the grand old party's Mevani from here.
Vaghela has represented the Vadgam constituency from 2012-2017 as a Congress leader, however, he was shifted to Idar seat in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections and ended up losing to the BJP's candidate. In April this year, Vaghela joined the saffron party.
Meanwhile, the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded veteran Dalit activist Dalpat Bhatiya from Vadgam seat. However, the AIMIM had not announced its candidate from here yet. Dalit and Muslim votes are the significant factors in Vadgam constituency for political parties.
Before the 2017 elections, Mevani who is also known as a Dalit leader, appealed to other parties to not field candidates from Vadgam, citing that his fight was against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Hence, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) withdrew their candidates and supported him.
Elections for the 182-member Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.
(With inputs from agencies)