Ahmedabad, 17 July 2012

This is the third article of JP’s ‘Gujarat Election 2012′ series on DeshGujarat

In the last article I tried to make the point that thanks to new delimitation, Gujarat assembly elections 2012 are actually incomparable with the elections held in the past.

I also promised that I would throw more light over this complex issue of new delimitation. I will not go into booth level details, because it might be a little boring for you, but I will certainly try to touch on the major elements of new delimitation.

First let’s see which are the assembly seats that have ceased to exist this time round, and based on our research, where are the areas under such seats shifting to.

South and central Gujarat:

Mota Pondha (ST) seat becomes Kaprada (ST) seat. Kaprada is the new seat. Mota Pondha (ST) was with Congress in 2007.

Chikhli (ST) seat merges into Gandevi (ST) and Vansda seats. Vansda is the new seat. Last winner on Chikhli seat was BJP’s Nareshbhai Patel.

Songadh (ST) seat merges into Mandvi (ST) and Nizar (ST) seats. Mandvi is the new seat. On Songadh seat, the last winning party was Congress.

Rajpipla (ST) becomes Nandod (ST) seat. Nandod is the new seat. Last winner on Rajpipla seat was BJP’s Harshadbhai Vasava.

Nasvadi (ST) seat merges into Sankheda (ST) seat. Congress won Nasvadi in last election.

Vadodara rural seat merges into Vaghodia, Dabhoi and Savli seats. Last winner in Vadodara rural was BJP’s Upendrasinh Gohil.

Rajgadh merges into Kalol and Halol seats. Rajgadh’s last winner was BJP’s Fatesinh Chauhan.

Limdi (ST) merges into Dahod (ST), Fatepura (ST). Fatepura (ST) is the new seat. It was a Congress seat in 2007.

Randhikpur (ST) merges into Morva Hadap (ST), Santrampur (ST) and Limkheda. Morva Hadap is the new seat. Randhikpur was last won by BJP’s Jashwantsinh Bhambhor.

Sarsa seat merges into Anklaw and Umreth seats. Of them, Anklaw is the new seat. NCP’s Gujarat President Jayant Patel alias Bosky won Sarsa in 2007.

Bhadran seat merges into Borsad seat. Bhadran seat was with Congress in the last election.

Kathlal seat merges into Kapadvanj and Thasra seats. Kathlal’s last winner was BJP’s Kanubhai Dabhi.

Chaklasi seat merges into Mahudha, Nadiad and Petlad seats. Chaklasi was with the Congress in the last election.

Ahmedabad and North Gujarat:

Khadia seat merges into Jamalpur seat. The new seat is named as Jamalpur-Khadia. The seat was with BJP’s Bhushan Bhatt in the last election.

Ahmedabad city’s Shahpur, Kalupur, Rakhial, Shaher Kotda(SC), Sarkhej seats are now titled as Ghatlodia, Vejalpur, Vatva, Naranpura, Nikol, Thakkarbapanagar, Bapunagar, Amraiwadi and Danilimda seats. While Shahpur, Kalupur and Shaher Kotda were with the Congress in 2007, Rakhial was with the BJP. Each of these seats has undergone a little or major change.

Bavla (SC) seat merges into Sanand seat. In 2007 BJP’s Kantibhai Lakum won Bavla. Sanand is the new seat.

Mandal seat merges into Viramgam seat. In 2007 BJP’s Pragjibhai Naranbhai was the winner in Mandal.

Gandhinagar seat becomes Gandhinagar north and Gandhinagar south, thus two seats have emerged from one seat. In 2007 BJP MLA Shambhuji Thakor won Gandhinagar. Both Gandhinagar north and south are new seats.

Meghraj seat merges into Bhiloda (ST). In 2007 Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela’s son Mahendrasinh won Meghraj.

Jotana (SC) seat becomes Bechraji seat. In 2007 BJP’s Jashodaben Parmar won Jotana.

Vagdod seat merges into Patan and Siddhpur seats. In 2007 Congress candidate won Vagdod seat.

Sami seat merges into Radhanpur and Chanasma seats. Congress was the last winner on this seat.

Kutch:

Mundra (SC) seat merges into Anjar, Mandvi and Bhuj seats. BJP’s Rameshbhai Maheshwari was the 2007 winner.

Saurashtra:

Jamnagar seat is divided into Jamnagar north and Jamangar south. Thus two seats have emerged from one seat. BJP’s Vasuben Trivedi was the 2007 winner in Jamnagar.

Jodia seat merges into Kalavad (SC) and Jamnagar rural seats. The 2007 winner was a Congress candidate.

Bhanvad assembly seat merges into Jamjodhpur and Khambhalia seats. The 2007 winner was BJP’s Mulubhai Bera.

Rajkot-1 and Rajkot-2 become Rajkot east, Rajkot west (new seat) and Rajkot south (new seat). Thus three seats emerge from two. BJP’s Govindbhai Patel was the 2007 winner in Rajkot-1 while Vajubhai Vala won in Rajkot -2 in 2007.

Upleta seat merges into Dhoraji seat. BJP’s Pravinbhai Makadia was the 2007 winner in Upleta.

Malia seat merges into Mangrol, Manavadar and Visavdar seats. The 2007 winner in Malia was BJP’s Lavjibhai Rajani.

Babra seat merges into Lathi seat. Congress candidate was victorious in 2007. Babra seat’s Vadia merges into Amreli seat. Lathi seat’s Liliya merged into Savarkundla.

Bhavnagar north and Bhavnagar south become Bhavnagar east (new seat) and Bhavnagar west (new seat). Bhavnagar north elected BJP’s Vibhavariben, while south elected Congress’s Shaktisinh Gohil.

Sihor seat merges into Bhavnagar rural (new seat) and Palitana seats. The 2007 winner in Sihor was BJP’s Keshubhai Nakrani.

Ghogha seat merges into Bhavnagar rural (new seat). In 2007 BJP’s Parshottam Solanki was elected from Ghogha.

Halvad seat merges into Dhrangadhra and Chotila seats. In 2007 Congress’s Devjibhai Fatepara was elected MLA of Halvad.

So here is the list of retiring seats:Halvad, Ghodha, Shihor, Bhavnagar north, Bhavnagar south, Babra, Malia, Upleta, Rajkot-1, Rajkot-2, Bhanvad, Jodia, Jamnagar, Mundra, Sami, Vagdod, Jotana, Meghraj, Gandhinagar, Mandal, Bavla, Mota Pondha, Chikhli, Songadh, Rajpipla, Nasvadi, Vadodara rural, Rajgadh, Limdi, Randhikpur, Sarsa, Bhadran, Kathlal, Chaklasi, Khadia, Shahpur, Kalupur, Rakhial, Shaher kotda and Sarkhej.

Of the 40 retiring or renamed seats, 23 elected BJP, 16 elected Congress and 1 went to the NCP(due to seat sharing with Congress) in the 2007 assembly elections.

Don’t arrive at the half backed conclusion that the careers of all of those representing these seats are finished.

Some of them will be dropped by the party. Some of them will be deemed suitable to fight from a new constituency that contains major areas of their previous seat. Some of them will switch on the ‘caste’ button and continue to float. Some senior politicians like Vajubhai Vala, Purushottam Solanki, Shaktisinh Gohil will try to encash their status and pick and choose the seat.

If you ask, whether this cut-copy-paste exercise favors prospects of BJP or Congress, there’s no single answer to it. In future, in this series we will discuss it for each of the seats individually.

The next article will discuss the emergence of new seats and the areas they contain.

Some readers want to know how Keshubhai Patel and his third front would affect the poll. We will surely cater a set of articles covering that topic too, but later on in this series. For now, the basic grammar only(delimitation).