Senior BJP MLA Nimaben Acharya is all set to become the first woman Speaker of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly as the opposition Congress has supported her nomination for the post.
An OBC leader, Thakor, who has good oratory skills, will have to take along all factions in the state unit while taking on the well-organised BJP which has been in power in the state from 1998.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the opposition party to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
Polling in 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities of Gujarat and by-elections of 23 municipalities and 3 taluka panchayats were held on Sunday.
Fearing poaching, the party had shifted its legislators to various resorts in Gujarat in the one last week, dividing them in zone-wise groups. While some MLAs gathered in Rajkot in Saurashtra, few others were in Abu Road in Rajasthan.
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
Party's state unit chiefs of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat were also detained along with the workers during the protests.
The party's chances of winning two seats in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state in the March 26 Rajya Sabha polls has been severely dented.
Hospital authorities said Hardik was in the ICU and a team of doctors was treating him.
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki on Friday won Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh.
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