Gujarat election result 2022 | A winning debut for BJP's Hardik Patel, bags Viramgam

(Image: Twitter @ANI)

In the high-stakes battle for Gujarat, BJP leader Hardik Patel has won the Viramgam Assembly seat by a margin of over 37,000  votes.

He was facing Congress' Bharwad Lakhabhai Bhikhabhai and Aam Aadmi Party's Amarsinh Anadaji Thakor.

The 28-year-old leader came to prominence in 2015 spearheading the Patidar agitation against the state BJP government, demanding Other Backward Class (OBC) status and reservation in government jobs and education for Patidars.

However, sources said, "Hardik Patel is unlikely to get a place in the state cabinet." He made his debut in politics in 2019, when he joined the Indian National Congress.

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Hardik served as the working president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. He subsequently became a strong critic of former party president Rahul Gandhi and joined the BJP in June 2022.

The BJP fielded him from Viramgam as his request for a ticket was supported by many state leaders. The anti-government Patidar agitation was very strong in Viramgam, and Congress candidate Lakhabhai Bharwad had won the seat in 2017.

With Patel joining the BJP, the political discourse in the constituency changed. Patel was a strong critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but after joining the party, naturally, he promised to serve as an obedient soldier under Modi’s leadership.

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In a major volte face in 2019, he had said that his battle for OBC status for Patidars had ended when the union government approved a 10 percent quota for economically backward classes (EBC) under the general category.

Patel has been named as an accused in at least 30 FIRs filed between 2015 and 2018 charging him with rioting and sedition during the Patidar agitation. Congress leaders had said that Patel had joined the BJP as he feared being jailed in connection with the cases slapped on him.