Bhavnagar, Dec 8 (PTI) Sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Gujarat’s Bhavnagar Rural constituency and prominent Koli leader Parshottam Solanki is leading over his Congress rival Revatsinh Gohil by more than 34,000 votes.
After the end of the eighth round of counting, Solanki has polled more than 45,000 votes, while Congress’s Gohil was far behind with more than 11,000 votes.
If Solanki, a former state minister, emerges victorious in this election, it would be his sixth straight win as an MLA as he had won the Assembly polls between 1998 to 2017.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Khumansinh Gohil, who hails from the Kshatriya community like Revatsinh Gohil, failed to make any mark in this Koli-dominated constituency as he has so far received just more than 5,000 votes.
Many believe that Solanki’s victory was a foregone conclusion given his popularity and goodwill he enjoys among voters.
Ahead of the Assembly elections held earlier this month, Solanki, 61, won the hearts of people with his gesture of meeting Revatsinh Gohil in a hospital after the latter suffered a heart attack on November 29.
Of the 2.5 lakh voters in the Bhavnagar Rural seat, 70,000 are Kolis, followed by 40,000 Rajputs, 22,000 Patidars, 18,000 Dalits, 20,000 Muslims and around 15,000 are Karadia Rajputs (Other Backward Class). This seat came into existence in 2012 following delimitation. It was carved out of the erstwhile Ghogha and Bhavnagar South constituencies. Since then, Solanki, who is known as ‘Bhai’ among his followers, has been winning the constituency with comfortable margins.
Banking on his popularity in the region and loyal Koli vote bank, Solanki had defeated Congress candidates in the past, including former leader of opposition in the Assembly Shaktisinh Gohil, a Kshatriya.
In 2012, despite Shaktisinh Gohil’s aggressive anti-BJP campaign, Solanki won by a margin of more than 18,000 votes. In 2017, Solanki had defeated Congress candidate Kantibhai Chauhan with a vote difference of more than 30,000.
Solanki, a veteran leader, had also won from the erstwhile Ghogha seat in 1998, 2002 and 2007.
He had served as a minister under different chief ministers, including Keshubhai Patel, Narendra Modi and Vijay Rupani. PTI PJT NSK NP NP
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