Veterans out of steam as 10 of 18 in poll fray lose

AHMEDABAD: At the start of the contest, there were 18 veterans each with more than 25 years of experience, in the state’s political arena. By the end of Thursday, after the votes were counted, 10 of them were not elected to the Gujarat assembly.

Of the veterans with five or more terms, 12 of them who contested were from BJP, five from Congress and one from Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP). Among those who were successful this year was Pabubha Manek, who will represent Dwarka for BJP for an eighth term in the assembly. The only successful six-time MLA was Raghavji Patel, who won on a BJP ticket from the Jamnagar Rural seat.

Veteran leader and BTP founder Chhotu Vasava lost an intensely fought election to a former associate and BJP candidate Ritesh Vasava in Jhagadia. Had Chhotu Vasava been elected, it would have been his eight term.

Vasan Ahir (Anjar), Dilip Thakor (Chanasma), Rajendrasinh Parmar (Borsad) and Sukhram Rathva (Jetpur) had all completed five terms before the 2022 elections. They didn’t win back their constituencies. Six-time MLAs Punja Vansh (Una), Keshu Nakrani (Gariyadhar), Niranjan Patel (Petlad), and Madhu Shrivastav (Vaghodia) also won’t return to the assembly. Those who made it to the House included Kunvarji Bavaliya (Jasdan), Parshottam Solanki (Bhavnagar Rural), Pankaj Desai (Nadiad), Jethabhai Ahir (Shahera), C K Raulji (Godhra), and Ramanlal Patkar (Umargam) — all from the BJP.

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