Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 | Kandhal Jadeja leads in Kutiyana marking SP’s first possible win in the State

Kandhal Jadeja is leading ahead of BJP’s Dheliben Odedera, who was seen as the main challenger.

Samajwadi Party candidate Kandhal Jadeja is leading in Kutiyana seat, marking the first possible win for the party in Gujarat.

Mr. Jadeja is riding on the popularity of his mother Santokben Sarmanbhai Jadeja, the late don whose story got a Bollywood retelling as Shabana Azmi’s “Godmother”.

Mr. Jadeja represents the Kutiyana seat, which his mother won in 1990. The Assembly constituency is barely 40 km from Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace of Porbandar but the constituency is more well known for its controversial legislator.

It doesn’t matter which party he contests from, he wins. In 2012 and 2017, he won from NCP ticket. He switched to SP after NCP denied him a ticket since he voted for the BJP candidate in the 2020 Rajya Sabha polls, despite the NCP supporting Congress.

“In the Rajya Sabha elections, I voted for the BJP so that my work in the constituency doesn’t suffer. For any public work, you need the help of the State government or the Centre,” says Kandhal bhai, who had several criminal cases lodged against him.

Being from the dominant Mer community — who are said to have been part of feudal militia in the erstwhile princely state of Porbandar apart from being agriculturists — Kandhal  bhai has a natural advantage as his community forms the bulk of the voters.

But over the years, the two-time MLA has also acquired a reputation of being an accessible leader who can break through the red tape of officialdom and get any work done.