Gujarat: BJP’s Raulji, who was involved in the decision to release rapists & described them ‘Sanskari Brahmins’ wins Godhra seat

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Bharatiya Janata Party’s C K Raulji defeated his Congress rival Rashmitaben Chauhan by 35,198 votes in Godhra assembly seat of Gujarat on Thursday.

Raulji bagged 96,223 votes, while Chauhan got 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.

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 had made an impressive debut by winning seven seats. It was eyeing to cement its position in the assembly elections this time.