12 PM Status Check: Who’s Leading, Who’s Trailing in Gujarat Polls

A quick scan at the polling results so far.

Radhanpur

• Congress’ Alpesh Thakor leading by over 12,000 votes
• Radhanpur is a bastion of the Thakor community and is currently held by the BJP
• The constituency has around 60,000 Thakore voters, which is almost one-fourth of its total electorate of 2.5 lakh

Vadgam

• Dalit candidate Jignesh Mevani is leading by over 21,000 votes
• Vadgam is currently held by Congress' Manilal Jethbhai Vaghela.
• Demographically, Vadgam has one lakh Muslim and Dalit voters in the 2.5-lakh strong constituency

Maninagar

• Sureshbhai Patel is leading by over 75,000 votes
• The seat is defended by sitting BJP MLA Sureshbhai Patel. Even Congress candidate Shweta Brahmbhatt, a youth investment banker, entered the fray.
• This seat has been in BJP's kitty since 1990. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he contested from this constituency.

Rajkot (West)

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijaybhai Rupani is leading by over 22,000 votes
• Rajkot (West) is a stronghold of the RSS and has been with the BJP since 1985. The Congress has mounted a strong challenge by bringing in Rajyaguru, the sitting MLA from Rajkot (East)
• This is the largest constituency in the Saurashtra region with over 3.15 lakh voters. The number of Kadva and Leuva Patidars in the region are 62,000, followed by Brahmins, Lohanas, and Jains

Jamalpur-Khadia

• Yusufbhai Khedawala of the Congress is leading by over 27,000 votes
• This is one of the few constituencies where the Muslim electorate is in the driver’s seat
• Out of the total 1.98 lakh voters in the constituency, over one lakh voters are Muslims