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Nandini Oza
Nandini Oza

GUJARAT POLLS

Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani wins in Vadgam

jignesh-mevani-dalit-leader (File) Dalit leader Jignesh Mewani

Dalit leader Jigensh Mewani won as an independent from Vadgam in north Gujarat.

Mevani is one of three young faces that emerged during the 2017 assembly elections of Gujarat.

Locked in a triangular fight, Mewani defeated BJP's Vijay Chakravarti by a margin of over 15,000 votes. Congress rebel Ashwin Parmar, who contested as an independent.

Martin Mackwan, one of the founders of Navsarjan Trust, working for the Dalit rights, told THE WEEK that it was a well-deserved win and an impact of Una flogging incident. He said that the victory indicates that Dalits should not be taken lightly. “It is good that people who can speak up go in the state assembly,” he said.

Kirtibhai Rathod, a Dalit worker, who had campaigned in the area said that the voters had made up their mind to defeat the BJP candidate.

In about 2.40 lakh voters, Vadgam has 74,000 Muslims as voters, followed by around 42,000 Dalits, 9000 Prajapatis and 8,000 Thakores. The population of Chaudharis is 25,000.

Alpesh Thakore had also campaigned in the constituency.

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