AHMEDABAD: 35-year-old Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani won from Vadgam constituency by defeating BJP’s Chakravarti Vijaykumar Harkhabhai.
By defeating Chakravarti Harkhabhai with a margin of more than 20,000 votes, Mewani reserved Assembly seat for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
A vocal critic of BJP’s Hindutva agenda, Mewani announced he was standing for election as an independent candidate from the Vadgam constituency of north Gujarat’s Sabarkatha district.
The Congress and AAP also supported Jignesh Mevani, by not fielding a candidate against him.
The highway-side dhaba-cum-hotel is Mevani’s election headquarters where an assortment of young activists from in and around Gujarat and from faraway Jawaharlal Nehru University brainstorm to make the 35-year-old’s maiden foray into electoral politics a success.
With around 1 lakh Muslims and followed by about 42,000 Dalits voters in the 2.5 lakh-strong constituency, Mevani, who emerged as a Dalit spearhead after organising movements and strongly condemning atrocities by cow vigilantes against the community in Una, Gujarat was largely expected to sail through.
There are strong voices in favour of Mevani as well, especially among the youth.
With agency inputs