Gujarat Assembly election results: BJP's Rivaba Jadeja wins by 53,000+ votes
Gujarat Assembly Election Results 2022: The BJP has secured an unprecedented seventh consecutive term in Gujarat, which is prime minister Narendra Modi's home state.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rivaba Jadeja marked her political debut - the 2022 Gujarat Assembly election - with victory from the state's Jamnagar (north) constituency. The wife of star India cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, Rivaba Jadeja defeated the Aam Aadmi Party's Karshanbhai Karmur, a member of the influential Ahir community, by 53,570 votes. The Congress' Bipendrasinh Jadeja is third with around 23,000 votes.
Rivaba Jadeja was chosen by the BJP over their sitting MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja to ward of anti-incumbency - a ploy that has worked wonders for the ruling party, which has claimed a record seventh consecutive term in office.
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Visuals shared by news agency ANI showed Rivaba Jadeja and Ravindra Jadeja holding a roadshow in the constituency to celebrate her victory.
Rivaba Jadeja could be seen wearing a saffron saree and multiple garlands as she waves to supporters with Ravindra Jadeja - in a grey suit and sunglasses - standing by her side.
In the 2017 election Dharmendrasinh Jadeja beat the Congress' Ahir Jivanbhai Karubhai by over 40,000 votes.
Dharmendrasinh Jadeja also won the seat in 2012 but that was on a Congress ticket, when he beat the BJP's Ayar Bera Mulubhai Hardasbhai by 9,448 votes.
Full Coverage: 2022 Gujarat Assembly Election
Apart from the Ravindra Jadeja connection, much of the attention around Rivaba - who is making her electoral debut - has been focused on a possible rift within the family, given the cricketer's father and sister have been campaigning for the Congress candidate in the area.
Full Coverage: 2022 Assembly Elections
Rivaba Jadeja has dismissed such talk, insisting: "It is not the first time that two members of a party are associated with two different ideologies."
"He is speaking as a worker of another party and not as my father-in-law. It is his personal matter. I believe in people of Jamnagar."
READ | No differences in family, it's a matter of ideology, says Rivaba Jadeja
The BJP has secured an unprecedented seventh consecutive term in Gujarat, which is prime minister Narendra Modi's home state. Voting was held in two phases - on Dec 1 and 5.
READ | Gujarat elections: PM, Amit Shah congratulate CM Patel on record win
Exit polls have handed the BJP a big win despite challenges from both the Congress and debutants Aam Aadmi Party, which secured a statement win in Tuesday's MCD poll.
