Gujarat Polls 2022: BJP's 'Morbi Hero' Kantilal Amrutiya Wins Election

Amrutiya had grabbed attention when he jumped into Morbi's river, following the collapse of a suspension bridge

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and five-time former MLA, Kantilal Amrutiya.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Mayank Chawla

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma

As results for the Gujarat assembly elections rolled out on Thursday, 8 December, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and five-time former MLA, Kantilal Amrutiya, won the Morbi Assembly constituency.

Amrutiya won by a margin of 62,079 votes, defeating Congress' Jayantilal Jerajbhai Patel and AAP's Pankaj Ransariya.

Amrutiya had grabbed attention when he jumped into Morbi's Macchhu river, following the calamitous collapse of a suspension cable bridge on 31 October. The tragedy claimed 135 lives, including 56 children.

What did the 2017 results look like? In 2017, Morbi was among the 77 seats that were won by the Congress. The seat had witnessed a neck-and-neck contest between the incumbent MLA and Congress candidate Brijesh Merja and BJP's Kantilal Amrutiya. At that time, Merja had defeated Amrutiya by a small margin of 3,419 votes.

How did Amrutiya come into the picture? Congress' Merja later resigned from his post, and joined the BJP. The saffron party had fielded Merja as their candidate in the by-election, and he went on to serve as the cabinet minister in the state.

In light of the Morbi tragedy, BJP fielded Amrutiya over Merja in the 2022 polls.