AHMEDABAD: There were a total of seven seats in the 2017 election where the margin of victory was less than 1000 votes. In which the lowest margin was 170 votes. The 2017 elections were a challenging task for the BJP and a ray of hope for Congress.
Looking at the 2017 results of these seats, it is known that there will be a tough fight on these seven seats as Aam Aadmi Party will also contest in the election.
Kaparada seat
South Gujarat’s Kaparada seat of the Gujarat Assembly is a lower-margin-win seat. From this seat, in a nail-biting fight to the finish, Jitu Chaudhary, a leader from Congress, defeated Madhubhai Raut of BJP by 170 votes. However, later on, Jitu Chaudhary resigned from Congress and joined BJP and became a minister of the government.
Godhra seat
The Godhra Assembly seat in Panchmahal district of Gujarat also shows the lowest margin fight. CK Rautji was contesting for BJP from this seat and he defeated Rajendrasinh Parmar of Congress by 258 votes.
Six-time Godhra MLA and former Gujarat Cabinet minister Chandrasinh Raulji, popularly known as CK Raulji, shifted from the Congress to the BJP in August 2017 ahead of the Assembly elections. Recently, he is caught in the eye of the storm after hailing freed Bilkis Bano convicts as Brahmins with 'good values’.
Dholka seat
Dholka constituency in Ahmedabad District was won by 327 votes. Gujarat’s former minister 75-year-old Bhupendrasinh Chudasama was contesting for BJP from this seat where he defeated Ashwin Rathore of Congress by 327 votes. However, the defeated candidate moved to Gujarat HC and the court declared his election "void".
The court said that Dhaval Jani, the returning officer, had been "hand in glove" with the BJP leader and that 429 postal ballots had been "illegally rejected". Chudasama, then, moved to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court, in an interim order, had put on hold the Gujarat High Court order cancelling the election of Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.
Mansa seat
The Mansa constituency is a town with a municipality and former princely state in Gandhinagar district. From this seat, Suresh Patel was contesting from Congress and he defeated BJP's Amit Chaudhary by 524 votes.
Amit Chaudhary is a former Congress MLA, who had cross-voted in the 2017 Rajya Sabha polls before giving his resignation. Later, he joined the ruling BJP. Amit Chaudhry is the son of former Congress leader Hari Chaudhry.
Dang seat
The tribal-dominated Dang constituency is reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST).
In the 2017 elections, Mangal Gavit was a Congress candidate from this seat and defeated BJP's Vijay Patel by 768 votes. However, Mangal Gavit resigned from Congress and joined BJP. But BJP did not give him a ticket and BJP fielded Vijay Patel as their candidate in the 2020 bypolls. He won by more than 60,095 votes against Congress candidate Suryakant Gavit.
Botad seat
Botad is divided into two Assembly segments. In Botad taluka, BJP heavyweight Saurabh Patel won by a margin of 906 votes against Congress nominee D M Kalathiya. Saurabh, 63, was a minister in the Anandiben Patel government but was dropped after Vijay Rupani took over in 2016.
Deodar seat
Deodar seat falls in Deodar taluka. Diyodar, also spelt Diodar or Deodar, is a town and former princely state of Banaskantha district. Shiva Bhuriya was contesting for Congress and he defeated BJP's Keshavji Chauhan by 972 votes.