BJP candidate Kunvarji Bavaliya won by almost 20,000 votes in the Jasdan by-polls held earlier this month, taking the total seat tally up to 100 in the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha.
Ahead of Jasdan by-elections, fake news had gone viral on social media that the BJP President Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister had made casteist remarks against the Bania and Koli communities respectively. Bavaliya, who won the election from the BJP this time hails from the Koli community.
Bavaliya, the then working president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and sitting Congress MLA from Jasdan when he quit the party and resigned in July this year. Hours later, he joined the BJP and swore in as a minister in the Vijay Rupani cabinet. It was important for Bavaliya to win the elections as he had to become an elected member of the assembly before January next year to continue being a minister.
Bavaliya has won all the elections from Jasdan since 1995, but he felt that Congress did not value his record in elections. Moreso, he said he was not able to serve the people of Jasdan as he had always been an MLA from the Opposition party.