Gujarat election result 2017: Amul chairman loses to BJP candidate in Thasra

In 2012 assembly polls, Congress candidate Ramsinh Parmar won the seat with 78226 votes.

Five-time MLA and Amul Dairy chairman Ramsinh Parmar, who resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP, has lost to Congress' Kantibhai Parmar from Thasra constituency in Kheda district. He had resigned as MLA just ahead of Rajya Sabha election in July. After joining the BJP in presence of Chief Minister, State party president local MLAs, MPs, and BJP office bearers, Ramsinh threw a challenge to Congress to win even one seat in Kheda and Anand districts.

In 2012 assembly polls, Congress candidate Ramsinh Parmar won the seat with 78226 votes. This is the second victory for the BJP in the political history of Thasra constituency. BJP had registered it's victory in 2002.

Ramsinh Parmar had joined BJP, saying Congress is a party without future. With Parmar's resignation, the number of Congress MLAs in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly was down to 51. The Congress MLAs resignations came ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections and threatened the prospects of Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Another turncoat who joined BJP during Rajya Sabha poll, Raghavji Patel was also losing from Jamnagar Rural.

The elections for the 182-seat Assembly were held on December 9 and 14, after an acrimonious campaign, which was dominated by a face-off between Prime Minister Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

In the 2012 elections, the BJP had won 115 seats while the Congress emerged victorious in 61 seats. The BJP has won every election since 1995 in the home state of Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. However, it was out of power for a couple of years due to party infighting and rebellion by Shankersinh Vaghela. The saffron party came back to power in 1998 and has ruled uninterrupted since then.

( With agency inputs)