AAP’s CM face Isudan Gadhvi leads from Khambhalia in Saurashtra

Khambhalia (Gujarat): Isudan Gadhvi, the Aam Aadmi Party’s CM face in Gujarat, on Thursday took an early lead over Congress party’s sitting MLA from Khambhalia, Vikram Madam, while BJP’s Mulubhai Bera was seen finishing third.

After four rounds of voting in the assembly polls, Gadhvi had polled 13,658 votes, compared to 9,889 votes polled by the incumbent Madam. BJP’s Bera had picked up 5,703 votes, according to the latest update available from the Election Commission.

Khambhalia emerged as one of the more high-profile seats in the Gujarat assembly elections after the AAP picked Isudan Gadhvi to this politically high-profile constituency in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Formerly a popular television news anchor, Gadhvi chose to contest from Khambhalia where he was born and raised. But the social equations of Ahir-dominated Khabhalia were not favourable to Gadhvi whose community is numerically insignificant.

Both Madam of the Congress party and BJP's Bera come from the numerically strong Ahir community. Madam previously also enjoyed the support of Muslims, who constitute the second-largest voting bloc. This time around, they seem to have switched to the AAP. For the last several decades, only a member of the Ahir community has won from here. If Gadhvi eventually wins Khambhalia, he would have set a new record.

The BJP had won this seat in 2007 and 2012 but lost to Congress in a bypoll in 2014. The opposition party retained the seat in 2017.