Ahmedabad:
Several Congress heavyweights fell by the wayside in the Gujarat Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Monday.
The leaders who bit the dust include Arjun Modhwadia, Shaktisinh Gohil, Siddharth Patel and Tushar Chaudhary. Modhwadia, who was the leader of opposition in the state Assembly between 2004 and 2007, was defeated by senior BJP leader Babubhai Bokhiriya by a margin of 1,855 votes in Porbandar constituency. While Bokhirya polled 72,430 votes, Modhwadia got 70,575.
Gohil lost the Mandvi constituency to BJP's Virendrasinh Jadeja, who won by a comfortable margin of over 9,000 votes.
Gohil is the national spokesperson of the Congress party. In the past he had served as the minister of finance, health, education, and Narmada in two consecutive Congress-led governments in Gujarat. He was the leader of opposition in the state Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
In the 2012 assembly elections, he was defeated in Bhavnagar (rural) seat, but won Abdasa in the 2014 by-poll.
Siddharth Patel, the son of former Congress chief minister Chimanbhai Patel, lost to BJP's Shailesh Mehta, who contested for the first time from Dabhoi constituency.
Patel, who was appointed as the party's campaign committee head for this year's Assembly elections, had also lost in the 2012 state polls.
Tushar Chaudhary, the son of tribal leader and former Congress chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary, lost to BJP's Mohanbhai Dodiya at Mahuva in Surat district by over 6,000 votes.
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He was an MP in the 15th Lok Sabha from Bardoli constituency and a minister in the UPA government.
