Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022: BJP takes lead in Morbi despite facing backlash for bridge collapse killing 140 people

New Delhi: The counting for the Gujarat Assembly Elections has begun and BJP has taken a massive lead as per the trends. The Morbi seat is a crucial one after the Morbi Bridge Collapse incident. As per the current updates by the Election Commission of India, Bhartiya Janata Party is leading in the constituency.

BJP changed their candidate for the Morbi constituency and gave a ticket to five-time MLA Kantilal Amrutiya. On the other hand, Jayanti Jerajbhai Patel and Pankaj Ransariya are contesting from Congress and Aam Aadmi Party respectively. BJP’s Kantilal Amrutiya is also known as the ‘Hero of Morbi’ as he helped with the rescue operation after the bridge collapse. Amrutiya is currently leading with 42548 votes as per the Election Commission.

Looking at the trends, BJP is likely to win the important seat of Morbi after the government faced criticism for the accident. Congress’ Jerajbhai Patel has currently received 23328 votes and is quite behind Amrutiya, while no other candidate is even near.

The elections in the Morbi constituency in Kachchh district were conducted in the first phase of Assembly elections on December 1. BJP took a decision to drop the sitting MLA Brijesh Merja and give the ticket to Kantilal Amrutiya instead.

The Morbi Bridge Collapse

The bridge over the Machchhu river in Morbi collapsed on October 30 when there were people standing on it. Nearly, 140 people died in the accident while many other were rescued from the river. The investigation into the matter is taking place and the case has been taken to the Supreme Court.