Gujarat: BJP beats AAP in Pavi Jetpur assembly seat, Congress relegated to 3rd spot

PAVI JETPUR (GUJARAT): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Jayantbhai Rathwa on Thursday defeated the Aam Aadmi Party's Radhika Rathwa in the tribal-dominated Pavi Jetpur assembly seat in Chhoteudepur district of Gujarat in a triangular contest that also involved the Congress. Jayantibhai bagged 81,700 votes as against 45,203 ballots secured by Radhika Rathwa in the Scheduled Tribes-reserved constituency.
The Congress nominee and sitting MLA Sukhram Rathwa, the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, was a distant third and polled 31,660 votes. It was a battle among Rathwas as Bharatiya Tribal Party's Namalbhai Rathwa was also in the poll arena in this tribal-dominated assembly segment. Jayantibhai Rathwa had won the seat in 2012, but was defeated by Sukhram Rathwa in 2017.
Punjab chief minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann had campaigned for Radhika Rathwa. In an interaction with PTI during the campaigning, Sukhram had said the Arvind Kejriwal-led party will eat into votes of both BJP and the Congress, and bag only 7,000 to 8,000 votes. In Pavi Jetpur, lack of water (for drinking as well as for irrigation) and poor roads were among the voters' top concerns. Unemployment, quality of education and inflation were also the issues highlighted by the youth during poll campaigning.