homepolitics NewsExplained: How AAP troubled the BJP and was a thorn for the Congress in Gujarat

Explained: How AAP troubled the BJP and was a thorn for the Congress in Gujarat

Gujarat Assembly election 2022: The AAP emerged victorious on five seats — namely Botad, Dediapada, Gariadhar, Jamjodhpur and Visavadar. But on how many and which seats did the Arvind Kejriwal's party give a hard time to the BJP and Congress? Read on to know.

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By Akriti Anand  Dec 10, 2022 3:12:53 PM IST (Updated)

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Explained: How AAP troubled the BJP and was a thorn for the Congress in Gujarat
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Gujarat Assembly elections 2022, breaking its own record by winning 156 seats in the 182-member House and retaining power for the seventh consecutive term. However, it saw a new opponent rise in Gujarat in the form of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which managed to win five seats and also secure the required vote share to now be christened a national party.

It is noteworthy, that though BJP has won in Gujarat convincingly for a long time now, Congress has not been a complete pushover. Even in the last assembly election, it managed to get a respectable 77 seats. However, now, Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as the third force in the westernmost state of India.
Analysts say that the AAP has made inroads majorly in the Congress vote bank.
In this year's Gujarat election, the number of votes bagged by the AAP constituted nearly 13 percent of the total vote share. The BJP's vote share was slightly above 52 percent, while the Congress's was nearly 27 percent.
(Credit: ECI) (Credit: ECI)
The AAP emerged victorious on five seats — namely Botad, Dediapada, Gariadhar, Jamjodhpur and Visavadar. On all these five seats, candidates belonging to the BJP were the runner-up with vote margins ranging between 2,700 and 40,000. Two of these were won by the BJP in 2017, two by Congress and one by the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP).
S No.ConstituencyWinning CandidateWinning PartyRunner Up (Party)Margin of Votes
1BotadMakwana Umeshbhai NaranbhaiAAPBJP2779
2DediapadaChaitarbhai Damjibhai VasavaAAPBJP40282
3GariadharSudhirbhai Vaghani (Sudhir Vaghani)AAPBJP4819
4JamjodhpurAhir Hemantbhai HardasbhaiAAPBJP10403
5VisavadarBhupendrabhai Gandubhai BhayaniAAPBJP7063
Whose vote share is it anyway?
The Arvind Kejriwal-led party failed to make a mark in the assembly elections and yet achieved something significant — becoming a national party. This is the first time the AAP was in direct contest with the BJP in Gujarat. It had earlier contested local body polls in the state.
Making a powerful debut, the AAP fared well in giving a tough fight to the BJP, kicking the Congress off some seats and taking the runner-up position. In over 30 seats, the AAP emerged to be the runner-up with a vote margin ranging from 8,000 to 1,80,000.
On some seats, the BJP-AAP tussle ousted the Congress which the grand old party had won in 2017. Some of them include Bhiloda, Chotila, Dhari, Jamnagar (Rural), Jetpur (ST), Jhalod and Khanbhalia. There were also seats where BJP had won earlier. Here's the list of all the Gujarat seats where AAP grabbed the second position:
S No.ConstituencyWinning PartyRunner Up (Party)2017
1BhilodaBJPAAPCongress
2DevgadhbariaBJPAAPBJP
3ChoryasiBJPAAPBJP
4ChotilaBJPAAPCongress
5DharampurBJPAAPBJP
6DhariBJPAAPCongress
7FatepuraBJPAAPBJP
8GadhadaBJPAAPCongress
9Jamnagar NorthBJPAAPBJP
10Jamnagar RuralBJPAAPCongress
11JasdanBJPAAPCongress
12JetpurBJPAAPBJP
13Jetpur (ST)BJPAAPCongress
14JhalodBJPAAPCongress
15KalavadBJPAAPCongress
16KamrejBJPAAPBJP
17KaranjBJPAAPBJP
18KatargamBJPAAPBJP
19KhambhaliaBJPAAPCongress
20LimbayatBJPAAPBJP
21LimbdiBJPAAPCongress
22LimkhedaBJPAAPBJP
23MajuraBJPAAPBJP
24MangrolBJPAAPCongress
25Morva HadafBJPAAPIND
26NarodaBJPAAPBJP
27Rajkot RuralBJPAAPBJP
28Rajkot SouthBJPAAPBJP
29ValsadBJPAAPBJP
30Varachha RoadBJPAAPBJP
31ViramgamBJPAAPCongress
32VyaraBJPAAPCongress
33WadhwanBJPAAPBJP
The AAP also swept aside the Congress to find a footing in the tribal belt. Although it could win only one seat, the AAP emerged as a direct challenger to the BJP in nine of the 27 ST-reserved seats.
Political analyst Dilip Gohil was quoted by PTI as saying that it was interesting to see how an urban party like AAP found its footing in some of the most backward tribal areas. "The way it attracted the tribal population is significant, showing how the tribals are turning aspirational," said Gohil.
Both the Congress and AAP promised to implement the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act when voted to power in the state. Kejriwal even promised to ensure that the tribal advisory committee under the Act will be headed by a member from the community.
The AAP is already in power in Delhi and Punjab. It is the only political party besides the BJP and the Congress to govern two states. It recently won the Municipal Cooperation of Delhi (MCD) elections held in the national capital

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