Banaskantha Lok Sabha Elections: The Only Gujarat Constituency Where Both BJP and Congress Have Fieled Women Candidates

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Banaskantha polls: Two-term MLA Geniben Thakor of the Congress will take on BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary, an engineering professor making her poll debut, in the May 7 Lok Sabha elections

The Banaskantha Lok Sabha constituency is one of 26 parliamentary constituencies in Gujarat. This is a General category seat and comprises part of the Banaskantha district. Seven Assembly segments fall under the Banaskantha Lok Sabha constituency, of which the BJP currently holds four (Tharad, Palanpur, Deesa, Deodar), the Congress holds two (Vav and Danta) and the Dhanera seat is held by an Independent. The constituency will vote in the third phase of general elections on May 7, 2024.

Sitting MP — Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel (BJP)

Candidates — Rekhaben Hiteshbhai Chaudhary (BJP) and Geniben Thakor (Congress)

Political Dynamics

Banaskantha is the only Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat where both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition Congress have fielded women candidates.
Two-term MLA Geniben Thakor of the Congress will take on BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary, an engineering professor making her poll debut, in the upcoming parliamentary polls.
BJP: BJP candidate Rekhaben Chaudhary may be contesting her maiden election but she is no stranger to social prominence.
She is the granddaughter of Banas Dairy founder Galbabhai Chaudhary which procures milk from 4.5 lakh farmers every day, an initiative which has opened doors of earning livelihood for lakhs of people in the district where many areas have been struggling with water scarcity.
Her husband Hitesh Chaudhary is a BJP office-bearer. While her family, through the Banas Dairy, is synonymous with Banaskantha, local sources say she was majorly an unknown figure even among BJP workers and leaders until she was declared the Banaskantha candidate. Sources added that she had not attended any meeting of the BJP or the party’s Mahila Morcha until her candidature.
Sources on the ground say a section of the BJP leaders were unhappy with the ticket going to a political newbie but no one officially raised the banner of revolt.
Modi Connect: Apart from her association with the Banas Dairy, the biggest employer of the district, the main plank of Rekha Chaudhary’s campaign is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gujarat is the home state of PM Modi who leads the BJP’s fight for a third term at the Centre. The party’s key strategist and Union Home Minister Amit Shah also hails from the western state.
At her election meetings, Rekha Chaudhary has been telling voters that her candidature has the direct support of PM Modi.
She has been highlighting the Ram Temple construction in Ayodhya and the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
She has also been banking on the popularity of the welfare schemes of the Modi government, especially those for women like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme.
With women forming a big chunk of his electoral support, PM Modi also makes it a point to interact with the women dairy farmers of whenever he visits Banaskantha district.
He also regularly visits and prays at the famous Ambaji temple in Banaskantha district.
Congress pins hope on seasoned MLA: The Congress and AAP are fighting together as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, which will prevent division of votes against the BJP.
Congress candidate Geniben Thakor is the sitting MLA from Vav in Banaskantha district.
The two-time MLA had defeated the then Gujarat minister and senior BJP leader Shankar Chaudhary in the 2017 Assembly elections and Swarupji Thakor of the saffron party in 2022.
She was one of the 17 Congress candidates who had managed to bag seats in the 2022 Gujarat assembly polls, which were won by the BJP with a record mandate.
Known for advocacy of women’s rights, Thakor had in 2020 said “rapists must be burnt alive rather than being handed over to police”, after the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl in Gujarat.
In 2019, however, she landed herself in controversy when she supported a diktat issued by the elders of her community from 12 villages in Banaskantha district, banning inter-caste marriages and barring unmarried young women from carrying mobile phones.
In the upcoming elections, Thakor says her fight is for the issues faced by the citizens of Banaskantha.
Taking a jibe at the BJP for fielding political novice Rekha Chaudhary, Thakor recently said the saffron party “talks about being a cadre-based party, but fields candidates who are not active workers”.
There was said to be mild discontent against Thakor in the Congress ranks when she started campaigning in the constituency even before her name was officially announced by the party, but the negative sentiment reportedly fizzled out after the candidate declaration.
Crowdfunding by Thakor: In the 2024 elections, Thakor has taken a novel approach to the poll campaign, initiating a political crowdfunding drive that encourages voters to contribute to her nomination deposit with the starting figure of Rs 11.
She also actively promotes a QR code on social media for campaign donations.
Thakor claims to have received overwhelming response to the crowdfunding campaign, reportedly covering her vehicle fuel expenses and arrangements for public meetings. She says the total funds collected could go up to Rs 50 lakh.
Speaker Controversy: The Congress on April 12 approached the Election Commission seeking action against Gujarat Assembly Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, accusing him of violating the model code of conduct by canvassing for the BJP’s Banaskantha candidate.
The grand old party claimed the Speaker organised a meeting in support of BJP candidate Rekha Chaudhary and submitted some purported video clips.
Reacting to the Congress’s allegations, Gujarat BJP said it is up to the Election Commission to take a call on the complaint.
Voting Pattern: The BJP has won the Banaskantha seat for the last three consecutive terms, including a by-election held in 2013. Before that, the saffron party had won the seat in 1998 and 1999.
The Congress had emerged victorious in the seat in 1996, 2004 and 2009.
BJP’s Haribhai Chaudhary lost in 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Banaskantha, before winning a bypoll in 2013 and then retaining the seat in the 2014 parliamentary election.
In 2019, the BJP fielded Parbat Patel, also from the Chaudhary community, who defeated Congress’ Parthi Bhatol by a margin of 3.68 lakh votes.
Caste Factor: When it comes to the caste mathematic in Banaskantha, Congress candidate Geniben Thakor seems to have the upper hand since the OBC Thakor community, to which she belongs, has around 4 lakh voters in the constituency.
The Thakor community has traditionally supported the Congress and is likely to back the grand old party in this election too.
Thakor has also made the upcoming poll an issue of prestige for members of the Thakor community.
Besides, the Congress can also count on the backing of Muslim and SC/ST voters in the constituency.
BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary is also from the OBC category, but the Chaudhary community’s count (between 2.5 lakh and 3 lakh) is about half of that of Thakor’s in Banaskantha.
The BJP has fielded candidates from the Chaudhary community since 2004, which reportedly has not gone down well with the dominant Thakors, local political observers claim.
The Chaudhary community has always supported the BJP and is likely to do so in the 2024 elections as well.

Key Constituency Issues

Water Crisis: Banaskantha district, which borders Rajasthan and Pakistan, has been facing severe water woes.
Water scarcity in a large part of the district is a harsh reality and even the cattle feed has to be bought from other places, which impacts the milk trade.
Mavji Loh, taluka president of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh in Palanpur, claimed the Gujarat government has launched a scheme to fill lakes with the Narmada canal water to woo voters ahead of the election but the result of the effort will only be known after two years.
Effort to bring in the Narmada canal water was much publicised by the BJP government, but its overall impact has not been significant and covers just 5-7% of the district, local sources say.
However, Mevji Desai, the BJP legislator from Dhanera seat in Banaskantha district, said the government has been taking steps to address the problem and has given an in-principle approval for a Rs 411 crore project to fill village lakes in his assembly segment with the Narmada canal water through a pipeline.
Cyclone Biparjoy Aftermath: In June last year, Cyclone Biparjoy had ripped through parts of Gujarat, leaving a trail of destruction and resulting in losses for farmers in Banaskantha and Kutch districts.
The cyclone had damaged standing crops spread across 1.30 lakh hectares in Kutch and Banaskantha alone.
A large number of fruit trees were either uprooted completely or partially damaged when the cyclone made landfall.
On July 14, 2023, the Gujarat government announced a relief package of Rs 240 crore for farmers who suffered losses due to Cyclone Biparjoy in Kutch and Banaskantha.
Deesa Airport: The Deesa airport is currently managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). However, it has been non-operational for long and no passenger flight operator has come forward to start operations from Deesa under the Centre’s regional air connectivity scheme. Locals have been demanding that the airport be upgraded along the lines of those in Tier-1 cities. While Deesa gears up for a new airbase, the demand for civilian flight operations has remained largely neglected.

Voter Demographics

Social composition

SC — 10.5%

ST — 9.1%

Religious composition

Buddhist — 0.01%

Christian — 0.05%

Jain — 0.42%

Muslim — 6.84%

Sikh — 0.02%

Literacy rate

54.64%

Major Infra Projects in Banaskantha

Deesa Air Force Base: At the DefExpo2022 in Gujarat, PM Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for a new airbase at Deesa in Banaskantha district near the India-Pakistan border and said it will emerge as an effective centre for the country’s security.
Defence experts believe that the new airbase will prove crucial in responding to any threat along the western border.
Kasara-Dantiwada Pipeline: In 2022, the Gujarat government had approved several projects to provide water to 135 villages of Banaskantha and Patan districts.
Major among the projects is the Kasara-Dantiwada pipeline. This is a 77km pipeline that will lift water from the Narmada main canal to fill 156 lakes in 73 villages of four talukas.
The pipeline is estimated to cost over Rs 1560 crore and will benefit around 30,000 villagers.
It will have a carrying capacity of 300 cusec and will connect lakes in the Deesa Kankrej, Dantiwada, and Palanpur talukas of Banaskantha district, as well as Harij and Saraswati talukas of Patan.
Solar Power Project: On February 27 this year, state-owned SJVN announced the commissioning of 100 MW Raghanesda solar power project located in Banaskantha district.
The project, bagged at a tariff of Rs 2.64 per unit, has been commissioned through its subsidiary SJVN Green Energy Ltd (SGEL).
The project is expected to generate 5,805 MU of solar power over a period of 25 years.
Ambaji Rail Connectivity: In 2022, the Centre approved the Taranga Hill-Ambaji-Abu Road rail project that will traverse through parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The 116.65-km-long railway line will facilitate locals and devotees visiting pilgrimage sites, including the Ambaji Temple in Banaskantha.
The Rs 2,798-crore Taranga Hill-Ambaji-Abu Road railway line will pass through Sirohi in Rajasthan and Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Mehsana districts of Gujarat.
It will benefit the people of both the states and ensure a speedy transportation of agricultural and other produce. The railway line is also expected to attract investment in the area and promote economic development.
National Highway Project: On March 15 this year, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways sanctioned Rs 699.19 crore for upgradation of a section of National Highway 58 in Palanpur, the headquarters of Banaskantha district.
The amount will be used to upgrade Khokhra Gujarat Border – Vijayanagar – Antarsuba – Mathasur road section of NH-58, according to an official statement.
NH-58 connects Gujarat and Rajasthan and also connects Ambaji Temple in Banaskantha, Udaipur, Polo Forest and other archaeological monuments and various tourist places.
The road section is proposed to be upgraded from the existing single/two lane road to 2 lanes with paved shoulder and involves realignment in 14 stretches passing through hilly terrain.
Banas Dairy Projects: In April 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new dairy complex and potato processing plant, built with investment of over Rs 600 crore, besides a host of other projects of Banas Dairy.
The new complex makes it possible for Banas Dairy to process about 30 lakh litres of milk, produce about 80 tonnes of butter, one lakh litres of ice cream, 20 tonnes of condensed milk (khoya) and six tonnes of chocolate daily.