Cong ends LS seat drought in Gujarat after a decade as it wins Banaskantha

The Congress on Tuesday broke its decade-long jinx in Gujarat as its candidate Geniben Thakor won from Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat by more than 30,000 votes.

Congress had drawn a blank in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi both in 2014 and 2019 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had swept all 26 seats. This time, the BJP is poised to win 25 seats.

Thakor defeated the BJP's Rekha Chaudhari by 30,406 votes in a nail-biting contest. Thakor polled 6,71,883 votes against her rival's 6,41,477.

"I express my heartfelt thanks to Congress workers and voters of Banaskantha. The people of Banaskantha have given me both vote and note, and I will fulfil all promises made to them," said Thakor who had crowdfunded her campaign. "I once more thank them for coining the slogan, "Banas ni ben Geniben' (translated from Gujarati as 'Geniben, the sister of Bansasnaktha'), and promise to serve them as long as I live....This is a victory of the people, voters and democracy," she told reporters.
 

Thakor, who is currently Congress MLA from Vav Assembly seat, said she received overwhelming response to her appeal for campaign donations.

Her rival Rekha Chaudhary, an engineering college professor, was a first-time candidate.

Thakor had earlier defeated BJP heavyweight Shankar Chaudhary in the 2017 assembly election, and retained the seat in 2022 by defeating the BJP's Swarupji Thakor. She had lost her first assembly election from Vav in 2012 to Shankar Chaudhary.

Thakor has been known to court controversy with her statements. She had once lauded a diktat issued by her community elders in 12 villages banning inter-caste marriages and prohibiting unmarried young women from carrying mobile phones. In 2018, after the rape of a 14-month-old baby, she had said that rapists should be burnt alive by a mob rather than being handed over to the police. The BJP had won Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat on the last three occasions, including the 2013 bye-election. Congress had won the seat in 2004, and again in 2009 when Mukesh Gadhvi had defeated BJP's Haribhai Chaudhary.