New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strategy to field newcomer Darshita Shah in Rajkot (West) – the constituency of former chief minister and sitting MLA Vijay Rupani – has handsomely paid off with Shah getting over one lakh votes till 1.30 pm, according to the Election Commission of India trends.
Congress candidate Kalariya Mansukhbhai Jadavbhai was a distant second with 32,332 votes, followed by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Dineshkumar Mohanbhai Joshi, who got 22,475 till early afternoon.
Shah received over 68 percent of the votes till reports last came in. According to a party source, her grandfather was a friend of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Party sources also said Vijay Rupani did not contest the state elections as he was on board with the BJP’s strategy of promoting new faces. The BJP accommodated the veteran leader within the organisation by making him in-charge of Punjab.
In the 2017 assembly elections, Rupani won Rajkot (West) with a margin of 53,755 votes over Congress candidate Indranil Rajguru.
According to data by the Election Commission of India (ECI) till early afternoon, the BJP was leading in 152 seats in the 182-member Gujarat assembly, a significant improvement from 2017 when it won just 99.
Trends suggest the party could breach the Congress’s 1985 record of 149 seats.
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