Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel wins Ghatlodia by over 2 lakh votes
Gujarat assembly election results 2022: Bhupendra Patel took over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat last year.
Bhupendra Patel, who succeeded Vijay Rupani last year as the Gujarat Chief Minister contested the assembly elections from Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad. The BJP leader registered a handsome win, securing over 2 lakh votes.
His poll performance reflects the voters’ sentiments on the BJP’s decision to change the chief minister in the middle of the term. The party took similar decisions in Karnataka and Tripura also.
Gujarat is the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union home minister Amit Shah the BJP saw a record win with over 150 seats. It had secured victory in 99 of 182 seats in the 2017 assembly elections. The exit polls have predicted a huge return of the party to power for a seventh straight term in the state where it has been ruling for nearly 27 years. The Chief Minister’s victory in his own constituency, goes without saying, can be said to be a battle of prestige.
In his victory speech for Gujarat in Delhi, PM Modi said that Gujarat broke a record to make a record. He also praised Bhupendra Patel - set to take oath as CM on December 12 again - for the big win in his constituency.
The Chief Minister had most recently drawn criticism over the October 31 bridge collapse in the Morbi district, which had killed over 140 people. Questions were raised over the contract for the repair of the suspension of bridge to a manufacturing firm - the Oreva group - better known as makers of Ajanta clocks. The matter had consequently reached both the high court and the Supreme Court.
Contesting against him are the Congress’s Amee Yagnik and the AAP has fielded Vijay Patel.
Arvind Kejriwal - during his intense campaigning for the AAP - had targeted the BJP amid the poll heat over the party’s decision to change the chief minister in the middle of the term.
The state voted in two phases on December 1 and December 5.
