Gujarat Assembly Elections 2017: Key constituencies to watch out for

The assembly election of the western state Gujarat is supposedly the most anticipated and awaited political event of 2017.

Both, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress are locking horns in a state that has been ruled by the saffron party for 22 years.

In this election which can be rightfully called, ‘Clash of the Titans,’ some of the constituencies will play a pivotal role in deciding the fate of the two biggest political parties both in the country and the state. 

Out of the 182 assembly constituencies, the BJP has already claimed that it will win in more than 150 seats to which Congress has put up a commendable fight.

Below are the constituencies which will be worth watching for. 

Bhavnagar West

While the BJP has fielded the Gujarat party chief Jitu Vaghani, fighting from the side of the Congress is stalwart Shaktisinh Gohil.

On an ordinary day, Vaghani wouldn’t be worried but this time around, Gohil has teamed up with Patidar leader, Hardik Patel.

Though Jitu Vaghani is a Patidar himself and BJP chief Amit Shah is counting on him to a great extent to accomplish his, ‘Mission 150.’

Rajkot (W)

This constituency is very important from the point of state chief minister Vijay Rupani as he is up against Congress candidate Indranil Rajyaguru.

Rajkot West is the largest constituency in the Saurashtra region which has been traditionally held by the BJP since 1985 and both Rupani and Rajyaguru have reasons to worry because majority of the voters are born just after that. Add on to that, the Patidars are angry with the BJP.

 Maninagar:

This is one constituency that can affect the psyche of the voters. The then CM aspirant Narendra Modi has been the undisputed victor in the Maninagar constituency where he has not lost since 2002.

BJP’s Sureshbhai Patel has filed his nomination papers whereas IIM educated Shweta Brahmnbhatt will be the face of Congress in this race.  Brahmbhatt, 34, is perhaps the only candidate in this Assembly poll who has received training to be a politician, that too from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore. 

Mandvi

One of the strongest bastion of the RSS in Gujarat’s Kutch district Mandvi will witness an interesting fight with the Congress.

The BJP has fielded Virendrasinh Jadeja will go face to face with the Congress’ Shaktisinh Gohil.

The region is rich in minerals and also houses the Mundra port. Despite this, it does not have any proper railway network.

The biggest issue this region faces is that, it is yet to receive the water of Narmada.

BJP’s Virendrasinh Jadeja is of the view that the people of Mandvi does not have any reason to vote other than the BJP because of the sustained development that has been carried out in the region.

Porbandar

BJP’s Babubhai Bokharia won Porbandar in 2012. He is pitched up against Congress veteran, Arjun Modhwadia. Modhwadia who held the seat from 2007 to 2012 would put up a great fight and try to regain the lost territory.

The fishing community constitutes of 70,000 people which will play a decisive role in the result.