Meet Geniben Thakor, Leader Breaks Congress' 10 Year Gujarat Dry Spell

In a State where the Congress has not won a Lok Sabha seat in the last 10 years, Geniben Thakor secured an impressive victory in Gujarat’s Banaskantha constituency by a margin of 30,406 votes. Defeating Bharatiya Janata Party rival Rekhaben Hiteshbhai Chaudhari, she won one of the 26 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat, traditionally a BJP stronghold. In the 2019 general elections, BJP’s Parbatbhai Patel won from the Banaskantha seat with a margin of 3,68,000 votes defeating Congress candidate Parthi Bhatol. 

Who Is Geniben Thakor?

"Satyamev Jayate," cheered Thakor, as she broke the decade-old dry spell for the Congress in Gujarat. She said her win was not just a personal, but a big win for the people of her constituency. Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil congratulated Thakor for her landslide victory, writing a message on X (Twitter).

અમારી બહેન ગેનીબેનને પંદર હજાર કરતા વધારે મતથી બનાસકાંઠાથી વિજયી થયા તે બદલ હાર્દિક અભિનંદન .

— Shaktisinh Gohil MP (@shaktisinhgohil) June 4, 2024

Thakor, a seasoned Congress politician and two-time MLA, came to be known as a 'giant killer' as she had once defeated the Gujarat assembly speaker in the 2017 elections. Meanwhile, her 2024 Lok Sabha election opponent Rekhaben Chaudhari is an engineering professor making her electoral debut.

Thakor first contested an election when she was in the fray for the 2012 Gujarat legislative assembly election from Vav, Gujarat, Although the 48-year-old lost the poll that year, her victory from Vav in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections etched her name as a prominent figure in Gujarat's political landscape.

Thakor has been embroiled in a fair share of controversies in her 12-year-long career. In 2018, she stirred a debate, when she said that people "should come together and burn (rape accused) alive" instead of handing them over to the police. She clarified that she was trying 'to calm down women', reports stated.

Later, in 2019, the then-MLA reportedly expressed support for the Thakor community's controversial decision to ban inter-caste marriages and mobile phone privileges for young, unmarried women. Thakor told the media, “They should stay away from the technology and spend more time studying."

Securing a victory in the 2024 elections, just a few miles away from PM Modi’s Vadnagar constituency, she emerged as the sole winner from her party. Political analysts attribute Thakor's win to her strong connection with grassroots communities and the support she received from the prominent Thakor community.