One AMC councillor makes it to Assembly

Of the three existing councillors from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) who tried their luck in the assembly polls, only one could make it through. Imran Khedawala, an independent councillor who won from Jamalpur-Khadia, was given a Congress mandate to contest the polls from the constituency keeping in mind the caste equation.

Khedawala belongs to Chhipa community, which is why he was selected. The choice paid off as he won by a margin of 22,939 votes.

Incidentally, he was denied a Congress ticket for the municipal election in 2015.

The other two AMC councillors who contested are Atul Patel and Jamna Vegda, both of the Congress.

The party asked the two to withdraw their nomination, following which Vegda, who had filed her nomination from Danilimda, complied. Congress then fielded Shailesh Parmar, who has won from the reserved SC seat by a margin of 32,600 votes.

Atul Patel, a councillor from Vatva, however, remained firm on his candidature and lost the election. The Congress suspended him for six years. It was believed earlier that Patel would become Leader of the Opposition but he was denied that too.

In the assembly election, he contested from Vatva constituency, from where he garnered 987 votes, way less than the 2,460 NOTA (None of the Above) votes cast in Vatva.

Former councillor Raju Momin also contested from Dariyapur constituency. He turned a rebel and contested as an independent candidate.