THE ANAND Assembly seat in the poll-bound state of Gujarat is facing stiff competition, with the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Congress fielding candidates. In 2017, Congress won the seat by a margin of a little over 5,000 seats.
The Congress’s Kanti Sodaparmar, who is the sitting MLA, says that he is confident of a repeat victory by a bigger margin. The constituency is scheduled to vote in the second phase of polling in Gujarat on December 5.
According to the news agency PTI, political observers believe that Sodaparmar will face a direct fight with Yogesh Patel, the Saffron Party’s candidate as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), who does not appear to have significant support in the area. AAP has fielded Girish Shandilya from the Anand assembly seat in the upcoming election.
Popularly known as the milk capital of the country, there are as many as 15 candidates in the fray this time. Anand city is famous for the Amul brand of dairy products owned by the Gujarat Milk Marketing Cooperative Federation. Anand city is one of the seven assembly constituencies in the Anand district. The grand old party won five of the seven constituencies in the last assembly election in 2017.
The constituency has a total of 3,13,857 voters, which includes 1,59,122 men, 1,54,730 women, and five transgender people.
Congress candidate Sodaparmar, alleging the ruling government in the state, said that the BJP has given nothing but inflation, unemployment, and corruption to the people.
“Before 2017, I lost narrowly three times. But after becoming an MLA, I have worked for the people. This time I will win by 25,000 votes,” Sodaparmar said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the local leaders of the BJP claim that the party lost seats in the last assembly polls due to the Patidar quota agitation. However, this is no longer a factor.
“We have identified the causes of our defeat and taken corrective steps. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a massive rally in Vidyanagar before the election dates were announced, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel accompanied Yogesh Patel when he filed his nomination. This shows how seriously the BJP takes Anand,” said a local leader of the BJP, as quoted by news agency PTI.
Yogesh Patel, the BJP nominee, said that the BJP won 36 of 52 seats in the Anand municipality, 18 of 28 seats in Karamsand, and all 24 seats in Vidyanagar. He also said that, in rural areas, seven out of 11 taluka panchayats and both Zilla panchayats are with the BJP.
Along with 14 villages, the municipalities of Anand, Karamsand, and Vidyanagar make up the Anand Assembly constituency. These five villages, which border Anand City, have evolved into semi-urban areas.
