Surat, Dec 8 (PTI) BJP MLA Sangita Patil on Thursday headed for a third straight win in Surat’s Marathi and Muslim-dominated Limbayat constituency, taking a lead of about 45,000 votes over her nearest rival – Aam Aadmi Party’s Pankaj Tayede.
After 17 rounds of voting, Patil had polled 72,122 votes, compared to 27,143 votes cast in favour of Tayede. The Congress party’s candidate, Gopalbhai Patil, was placed third with 22,773, according data available with Election Commission.
The battle of ballots in Limbayat assembly turned interesting curious when the BJP named Sangita Patil as its candidate from the seat despite strong anti-incumbency.
As Patil, a prodigy of C R Paatil, BJP’s state president in Gujarat, sought re-election as many as 44 independent candidates, mostly Muslims, joined the race.
Marathi migrants constitute the biggest chuck of voters among Limbayat’s 2.5-lakh electorate, followed by a sizeable number of Muslims.
Migrant workers from Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana also play a role in any electoral outcomes in Limbayat.
The poor handling of migrants during the Covid-19 pandemic, worsening law and order and lack of adequate civic amenities were among issues that contributed to a strong wave of anti-incumbency. The results on Thursday, however, showed that Patil had succeeded to overcome anti-incumbency. PTI PK RM VT VT
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