Gujarat assembly elections 2022: A rough ride for BJP in Surat region

Boasting of a great historical and cultural heritage, Surat in Gujarat has today earned the reputation of an important industrial hub and commercial centre of the country. Among the 182 Legislative Assembly Constituencies of the state, 16 are in Surat district, the second highest after Ahmedabad. It’s due to this reason that the district plays an important role in deciding the fate of Gujarat elections. In the 2017 elections, BJP ruled the Surat district winning over 14 out of 16 Legislative Assembly seats. The only two constituencies where BJP lost to Congress were Mangrol and Mandvi.

Home to over 5,000 diamond manufacturing units, Surat is also popularly known as the ‘Diamond City’ of India. As per political experts, diamond workers of the city have a numerically significant presence in at least half a dozen seats of Gujarat, and they could make a difference to the election outcome.

At an estimate there are around 15 lakh diamond workers in Gujarat, among which seven lakh are employed in units in Surat. As per the experts, these voters played an important role in helping Aam Aadmi Party win 27 out of 120 seats in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections in 2021 and could impact the party’s prospects in Gujarat’s upcoming Assembly elections.

The majority of these voters also share a common connection as they hail from the state’s Saurashtra region and belong to the Patidar community, which has the highest influence over the state politics.

The outcome in around five constituencies of Surat namely Varachha Road, Katargam, Karanj, Kamrej and Surat North is impacted by people from Saurashtra who have got settled there.

It’s mainly because of the support of Patidar community and a large section of diamond workers that in 2021 Municipal Elections AAP won the civic seats in areas falling under these Assembly segments.

The BJP, which had won all these seats in the 2017 assembly polls is playing safe as it has given tickets to its sitting MLAs in four of the five seats, except Kamrej.

The constituency in Surat that got much limelight in the recent past is Surat East. It was especially due to the controversy surrounding the AAP Candidate, Kanchan Jariwala who withdrew his candidature few days back. It is the only seat among the total 182 seats where AAP is not contesting. Congress on the other hand has fielded a Muslim candidate, Aslam Firozbhai Cyclewala from this seat to get a hold over the 22% Muslim votes of the constituency. But it won’t be an easy fight as 12 among the 14 candidates who are contesting over Surat East seat are Muslims. BJP has shown confidence in its previous candidate Arvind Rana and has given him the ticket.

The disappointment of people in few BJP dominated constituencies of Surat may also contribute to making the battle difficult for the party.

Expressing his anger towards their MLA Kishor Kanani, Sanjay, local resident of Varachha Road constituency said that even after being the Minister of State, Health & Family Welfare, he failed to look at the medical needs of people during the pandemic period.

He further says, ‘There is no government college here even after having a huge population of youngsters. Government earlier promised to establish a government college but only the foundation stone was laid and after that nothing was done.’

Another resident, Ghanshyambhai said, ‘There are not enough government schools in Varachha for our children to study. One school was established recently but it has arrangements for only 600 students and total students who were looking for admission are 12,000. There is space where schools can be established but the government has failed to pay any heed. Encroachment is another issue in this area. As compared to Surat city, Varachha has very few grounds. People living in residential areas are facing lack of parking space, but illegal construction is going on in full swing. On top of that, the government came up with an impact fee law under which illegal construction can be legalised by paying a fee. If this continues, the issue of parking space will increase in future’.

He further added that if the government would have done any development in Varachha then they won’t have to plead for votes this time.

Similarly, another resident, Ghanshyambhai, who shifted to Surat 20 years ago also bashed the BJP government for spending money on unnecessary things and ignoring the main issues. Expressing his disappointment with the local MLA, he said, “Kishor Kanani did nothing for the welfare of people during the Corona pandemic. People were suffering due to unavailability of medical facilities, but he was busy enjoying. Even after being the Minister of State, Health & Family Welfare, he failed to look after the needs of his people’.

Amid such dismay among people, it would be interesting to see whether BJP is still able to maintain its stronghold over the 14 assembly seats of Surat or lose it to other parties.

In the upcoming Gujarat elections 2022, voting in all the 16 constituencies of Surat district will be held on December 1 in the first phase and the counting of the votes will take place on December 8.