On 11 July 2016, members of a cow vigilante group flogged four Dalit men in Gujarat’s Una, accusing them of cow slaughter. The men, who were leather tanners from the town, were only skinning dead cows.
The incident triggered massive statewide protests against cow vigilantes, putting the town on the national map.
Congress candidate Vansh Punjabhai Bhimabhai won the controversial Assembly seat of Una, located in the Saurashtra region of the state. There are 2,33,303 voters on the electoral rolls in the constituency.
Bhimabhai polled 48.56 percent of votes – or 75,755 votes. He won against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Haribhai Boghabhai Solanki by 4,928 votes, who polled 45.27 percent of votes.
Congress had also won the seat in the 2012 Assembly elections.