The 2022 Assembly elections in BJP bastion of Gujarat were an underwhelming affair, with a significantly reduced turnout of 63.5 per cent compared to 2017's 69 per cent.
And while the exit polls are predicting another landslide win for the BJP, which has ruled the state for well over 22 years, let's have a look at constituencies contested by Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani, and Alpesh Thakor.
In 2017, the trio had challenged the ruling BJP, and had been dubbed as Congress’s so-called "HAJ" (for Hardik-Alpesh-Jignesh) against the BJP’s "RAM" (Rupani-Amit-Modi). However, Alpesh defected to the BJP in 2019, Rupani was replaced with Bhupendra Patel as CM in September 2021, and just months before the 2022 polls, Hardik quit Congress to switch to the BJP, and Jignesh joined the Congress, ending the "HAJ" collective.
Hardik, the face of the Patidar agitation, is contesting from the Viramgam seat against AAP's Amarsinh Anadaji Thakor and Congress's Bharwad Lakhabhai Bhikhabhai.
Mevani is contesting from Vadgam against AAP's Dalpatbhai Dahyabhai Bhatiya and BJP's Manibhai Jethabhai Vaghela.
Alpesh Thakor is contesting from Gandhinagar South against AAP's Devendrabhai Pravinchandra Patel and Congress's Himanshu Patel.
In line with the state-wise reduction in voter turnout this election, the three constituencies also saw a fall in the percentage of voters exercising their franchise. While Viramgam saw a 4.15 percentage point fall in turnout from 2017's 68.10 per cent to 63.95 in 2022, Vadgam saw a nearly 6 percentage point fall from 72 per cent turnout in 2017 to 66.21 per cent in 2022. Gandhinagar South saw the biggest fall of the three seats, from 70.77 per cent in 2017 to 62.2 per cent in 2022, a decline of 8.57 percentage points.
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