Congress opens Lok Sabha account in Gujarat after 10 years with Geniben Thakor’s win
Thakor, who holds a BA degree, made her electoral debut in 2012 when she unsuccessfully contested assembly elections from Vav constituency.
In the run-up to voting day in the Gujarat Lok Sabha elections on April 25, 48-year-old Geniben Thakor could be seen rushing from one rally to another, dressed in a saree. The scale of the challenge was clear. For a decade, across both 2014 and 2019, Gujarat had transformed into a veritable fortress for the BJP – the party winning all 26 seats on both occasions. But on counting day, even as other senior Congress leaders such as Amit Chavda from Anand and Chandaji Thakor from Patan fell by the wayside, Thakor emerged victorious from Banaskantha – the first Congress member of parliament in Gujarat in 10 years.
Thakor, who holds a BA degree from Jain Vishva Bharati Institute Ladnun, made her electoral debut in 2012 when she unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections from Vav constituency. But five years later, even as the BJP swept the state, she emerged a giant killer, beating BJP stalwart and Banas Dairy chairman Shakar Chaudhary from the Vaav constituency. Five years later, she won from the constituency again.
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“Geniben is a grounded personality who has consistently worked for the people and maintains direct contact with her constituents,” said Vidyut Joshi, a political expert and former vice-chancellor of Bhavnagar University.
The BJP won the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat in both 2019 and 2014, but this time, the contest was between two first time Lok Sabha contestants, Thakor and the BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary, an engineering professor and the grand-daughter of Galbabhai Chaudhary, who established the Banas Dairy in 1969.
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Chaudhary’s campaign heavily focused on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal, the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and the BJP’s pitch of nationalism, while Thakor countered by highlighting issues such as unemployment, exam paper leaks, agrarian distress, and social justice.
“I thank the people of Banaskantha for keeping faith in Congress and granting this historic victory to ‘Banas ni Ben.’ I am committed to working for the progress of this constituency and elevating it to greater heights,” she said in a message on X.
