Gujarat Elections 2022: Congress Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani trailing in Vadgam

Congress is facing a major setback as its Dalit leader from Vadgam Jignesh Mevani is trailing by more than 3,500 votes after the fourth round of vote counting ends.

Jignesh, who gained popularity in 2016 after Dalits in Una, Gujarat, were publicly flogged, won the election from the same constituency in 2017 with the help of the Congress. He presently has roughly 15000 votes, compared to Manibhai Vaghela of the BJP, who has more than 18,000 votes.

2017 saw Congress remove Vaghela from Vadgam solely to show its support for Jignesh. Vaghela, who represented the same seat as an MLA in 2012, recently joined the BJP and was given the party's nomination.
With about 90,000 Muslim voters out of its 2 lakh 94 thousand electorate, Vadgam is a significant constituency. Together with 15,000 Rajputs, there are about 44,000 Dalit voters.

Notably, the Congress Dalit leader is running against AIMIM and AAP in addition to the BJP. With Kalpesh Sundhia on the ballot, AIMIM hoped to steal some of Jignesh's Muslim supporters.
During his campaign, Jignesh, a well-known Dalit leader in Gujarat, brought up the issues of unemployment and rising prices.

The issue of his ongoing support for Bilkis Bano and the pardon of 11 prisoners didn't come up much, though, during his campaign.

Also read : Gujarat Elections Live: BJP thumping a massive lead in 157 seats, Congress far behind in 16 seats