Tribal leader with most no. of criminal cases wins big

Candidates with criminal cases have by and large been rejected by the people in the Gujarat and Himachal Assembly elections. But one of the most significant wins by a first-timer has been the Bharatiya Tribal Party’s Mahesh Vasava, a candidate with the most number of criminal cases against him among all the others who filed nominations.

Mr. Vasava has 24 cases including two murder cases against him. He has also won the election from the Dediapada constituency in Gujarat with 83,026 votes, beating the BJP’s Motilal Vasava by a margin of over 20,000 votes.

In Gujarat's Patan constituency Congress’ Kiritkumar Patel, who has 12 criminal cases aginst him won with 103,273 votes, and by a margin of close to 25,000 votes. One of the Nationalist Congress Party’s very few wins was in Kutiyana, where it fielded Kadhalbhai Jadeja, a candidate with 11 criminal cases filed against him. Shailesh Mehta of the BJP, another candidate with 11 criminal cases, too won in Dabhoi but by a slim margin — just over 2,000 votes.

In Himachal Pradesh’s Manali constituency, Govind Singh Thakur, who has three criminal cases against him won against Hari Chand Sharma of the Congress with 27,173 votes. The BJP’s Rakesh Pathania beat Ajay Mahajan of the Congress in Nurpur, and Mr. Pathania also has three criminal cases.