If Muslims had voted en bloc for the Congress party,the picture would have a bit different in Morbi and Abdasa
Abdulhafiz Lakhani siyasat.net
Close on the heels of Gujarat by- election results, out of eight seats, Two constituencies- Morbi and Abdasa have seizable and decisive Muslim voters, however Both seats went to BJP. Spilting of Muslim votes in favour Muslim candidates damaged Congress in a big way.
The opposition Congress party in Gujarat not only lost all the right assembly seats in the by-elections, but also several independent Muslims queering its pitch in Morbi and Abdasa constituencies.
The Congress lost Morbi by a margin of 4,688 votes of as many as three Muslim candidates who were contesting here was more than this.
Bhatti Hushenbhai of All india Majalis-E- Inquilab-E- Millat got 870 votes while other independent Muslim candidates Movar Nijambhai Gafforbhai and Bloch Ismail Tarmahmadbhai lilled 3162 and 2107 votes respectively.
If Muslims had voted en bloc for the Congress party,the picture would have different in Morbi.
Abdasa is more curious. Here,Padhiyar Hanif Janab, an independent Muslim candidate begged 26463 votes, while Mutva from BSP for 4983 Votes and Ibrahim Halepotra’s 1239 votes. Usually, Muslims are known to traditionally vote for the Congress, in continuation of the trend of the 2019 Loksabha elections, their votes got split between the Congress, several independent candidates and the BJP.
This explains why the BJP seems to have got votes from a cross section of castes, classes and communities.
In addition, the BJP is also believed to have received an unexpected boost from Shanakarsinh Vaghela, Former CM who wanted to ensure that Congress did not win Muslim dominated Abdasa seat.
Political observers say that independent Muslim candidates in Abdasa was a proxy candidate meant to decide the vote. The oy seems to have worked.
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