Gujarat Godhra Result 2022: BJP's Raulji wins communal sensitive assembly seat, Godhra with more than 50% votes

Gujarat Godhra Result 2022: Bharatiya Janata Party's C K Raulji witnessed a massive victory by defeating his Congress rival Rashmitaben Chauhan by 35,198 votes in the Godhra assembly seat of Gujarat on Thursday.

Raulji bagged 96,223 votes, while Chauhan could only manage 61,025 votes. Aam Aadmi Party's Rajeshbhai Patel got 11,827 votes, while the AIMIM's Hasan Kachaba secured 9,508 votes in the communally-sensitive Assembly seat of Godhra, where the burning of a train had triggered one of India's worst post-Partition riots 20 years back. 

Till date, the opposition has brought up the issue of Godhra several times to criticize the national ruling party.  BJP and several veteran leaders of the party are criticized for creating a communal divide in the state in 2002. 

Godhra is witnessing a four-cornered fight as BJP has fielded 2017 Gujarat assembly elections winner CK Raulji, Rashmitaben Chauhan is contesting from the Congress party, Rajeshbhai Patel from AAP and Hasan Shabbir Kachaba is contesting from AIMIM. 

Raulji has been representing Godhra since 2007 as Congress MLA from 2007 to 2016 and as a BJP legislator since 2017. Godhra, where communal fissures still persist and where voting takes place largely on religious lines, has around 2,79,000 voters. Of these, 72,000 are in the Muslim-dominated area. Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Rajeshbhai Patel and All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)'s Shabbir Kachba are also in the fray. In the Godhra Municipal Council polls last year, the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM made an impressive debut by winning seven seats. It was eyeing to cement its position in the assembly elections this time. 

In the last election of 2017, BJP's CK Raulji won the seat by defeating Parmar Rajensrasinh Balvantsinh of Congress by a small margin of 258 votes. 

The legislative Assembly election was conducted in Gujarat from 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect 182 members of 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. As per the data made available by the Election Commission, a total number of 1,621 candidates contested in the Gujarat elections. 

In 2017, BJP won 99 seats, Congress won 77, and 1 seat went to  NCP. Bhartiya Tribal Party and Independent won 2 and 3 seats respectively. 

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