Bhushan Bhatt wins Khadia seat

AHMEDABAD: BJP managed to retain the Khadia seat though by the lowest margin since 1975. Late speaker and veteran BJP leader Ashok Bhatt's son Bhushan Bhatt defeated Congress' Jagat Shukla by 2,473 votes in the results of the by-election declared on Thursday.
The Khadia seat fell vacant after the senior Bhatt, who had been winning the constituency continuously for the BJP since 1975, died in September last year.
Ashok Bhatt had contested the elections from Khadia for the first time in 1975 as a candidate of Bharatiya Jan Sangh. Soon after the victory, the BJP took out a rally from its state headquarter in Khanpur to Khadia. The mood at the counting centre was also not as expected. Not many workers were seen at the centre. And many who turned up at about 10 am were shocked to find the result already declared.
The late speaker saw his lowest victory margin in 1980, of 5,731 votes, which was also double of what his son won. However, for BJP what mattered was they saved the seat. But BJP office bearers say that despite the victory, party leaders were worried about the fall in the margin. The Congress was overjoyed to cut down BJP's votes by 7,000, although it lost the election.
The first few rounds of counting had the BJP on tenterhooks. In first three rounds, Bhushan was trailing by over 2,000 votes. However, this was only because the counting for the minority-dominated Raikhad was taken up in the first three rounds.
But another office bearer said that this was not the case when senior Bhatt was contesting; he did get votes from the minority area also. Bhatt never trailed even in Raikhad with such a margin. However, party leaders said that the image of Bhatt was that of a very secular person, while his son was considered to be more communal.
Rakesh Shah, the BJP city president said, "In the election what matters most is victory. We are going to analyse the victory and also take stock of the votes that the party got in each booth." He said one cannot compare it with the victory of Ashok Bhatt as it was general election and this was a by-election.
Congress spokesperson Arjun Modhvadia termed the result a victory for his party as it was able to make inroads in the BJP-dominated Khadia. "Had the party began working since November, the result would have been totally different."
He said if the minority community had come out in more numbers, the result would have been quite different. However, he said that the result was a positive sign for the Congress.infobox