Gujarat Polls: CM Bhupen Patel wins big; Rivaba Jadeja opens account in style

Gandhinagar, Dec 8 (IANS) With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to script a record victory in the Gujarat Assembly elections and return to power for the seventh staright term, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel joined the party on Thursday by routing his nearest Congress candiadte by nearly 2 lakh votes at the Ghatlodia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad district.

While Patel got 2,12,480 votes, Congress' Amee Yajnik finished a distant second with 21,120 votes.

In Jamnagar North, BJP candidate Rivaba Jadeja, who's the wife of India cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, made an impressive electoral debut by defeating AAP's Karshanbhai Karmur by close to 60,000 votes.

Among other prominent BJP candidates, OBC leader Alpesh Thakor won by 43,322 votes from Gandhinagar, Hardik Patel won from Viramgam by a margin of 56,215 votes, while senior leader Yogesh Patel won from Manjalpur by 1,00,754 votes.

Meanwhile, the candidates fielded by the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) failed miserably this time. In Vadgam, AIMIM's Sundhiya Kalpeshkumar could poll just 1,832 votes till the time of filing this report, trailing behind Congress' Jignesh Mevani (78,845) and BJP's Manibhai Vaghela (75,005).

AIMIM candidate Sabir Kabliwala managed 15,655 votes in the Jamalpur Khadia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad, which was won by Congress' Imran Khedawala who defeated BJP's BJP's Bhusan Bhatt by 13,658 votes.

In Danilimda, Congress' Shailesh Manubhai Parmar defeated Nareshbhai Vyas of the BJP by 13,487 votes, while AIMIM's Dilipbhai Parmar could manage just 2,434 votes.

Similarly, in Godhra, BJP's C.K. Raulji beat Congress' Dushyantsinh Chauhan by 35.198 votes with AIMIM's Hasan Shabbir Kachaba finishing a distant fourth with 9,508 votes.