Guj: Voting for six assembly bypolls on Monday

Voting for the bypolls in six Assembly constituencies in Gujarat will be held on Monday which is viewed as a battle of prestige for Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as chunk of these seats were held by the ruling BJP. The outcome of the bypolls on October 24 will have a bearing on the current composition of the 182-member House. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP won 99 seats against the Congress' 77 under Rupani's watch. The byelections will be held on Tharad, Radhanpur, Kheralu, Bayad, Amraiwadi and Lunawada seats.

The BJP had bagged all the 26 seats in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year. The BJP is under pressure to secure the pole position given that four of the six constituencies going to polls were represented by the ruling party before the change of circumstances like some candidates winning the LS polls. Elections became necessary in Tharad, Lunawada, Kheralu and Amraiwadi after BJP MLAs of these seats got elected to the Lok Sabha.

In Radhanpur and Bayad assembly seats, the BJP has fielded Congress turncoats and former MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala, respectively. On the eve of polling, the BJP and the Congress both claimed victories for their candidates. 
Prominent among the six seats is the contest playing out in Radhanpur constituency where OBC leader and BJP candidate Alpesh Thakor in in the fray. Thakor, who emerged as an OBC leader opposedto inclusion of Patidars in the OBC category for reservation, had won from Radhanpur on a Congress ticket in 2017. 
Unemployment, economic slowdown were among the main issues raised by the Congress during campaigning.

The chief minister and the state BJP president Jitu Vaghani were the saffron party's main campaigners. Several state ministers also took part in campaigning. For Congress, Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani and state unit chief Amit Chavda were among those who canvassed votes for party candidates. Byelection in Bayad was necessitated following the resignation of sitting MLA Dhavalsinh Zala who quit the Congress and joined the BJP.

The BJP has fielded Zala from Bayad. The BJP has fielded Jivrajbhai Patel in Tharad, Alpesh Thakor from Radhanpur, Ajmalbhai Thakor from Kheralu, Zala from Bayad, Jagdish Patel from Amraiwadi and Jignesh Sevak from Lunawada. The Congress has nominated Gulabsinh Rajput from Tharad, Raghubhai Desai from Radhanpur, Babuji Thakor from Kheralu, Jasubhai Patel from Bayad, Dharmendra Patel from Amraiwadi and Gulabsinh Chauhan from Lunawada.

"The Congress lacked leadership. We will win all the six seats," Vaghani said. Countering Vaghani, Chavda said turncoats like Thakor will bite the dust. Congress nominee from Radhanpur, Raghu Desai said, "People of Radhanpur will teach a lesson to turncoats like Alpesh Thakor who had betrayed them (by joining the BJP).