Called by many as “Lady Singham” in her region, firebrand Congress legislator from north Gujarat Geniben Thakor began her Lok Sabha campaign through crowdfunding, collecting “mameru” (token money given to newly married daughters when they leave for their husband’s home) from women in Banaskantha constituency.

The day she went to file her nomination, she said the mameru from the people was her election deposit. Around the same time, Gujarat BJP president C.R. Paatil exhorted the cadres to ensure she forfeits her deposit — to which she quickly reacted, reminding the people that the mameru is at stake now and they must ensure it is protected.

Geniben, 48, is the sitting Congress MLA from the Vav Assembly constituency, which falls under the Banaskantha seat, and enjoys a strong mass base in the region. She was one of the winners among the 17 seats the Congress managed in the 2022 Assembly elections against the backdrop of several party leaders queuing up at the BJP’s door. The ideologically uncompromising Geniben scoffed at all attempts to win her over.

Low on resources, high on spirits, Geniben is among at least five Congress candidates putting up a strong resistance to the ruling BJP that is looking to improve its already dizzying winning margins of 2019.

With Tuesday’s turnout in Gujarat clocking just around 55 per cent, the BJP’s target of winning all 26 seats appeared an uphill task. In five to six seats — mostly rural — where the Congress hopes to do well, the average polling was more than 60 per cent. The urban areas, the BJP’s invincible forts, registered a turnout of 50 to 55 per cent — the party doesn’t like this.

There is a major difference between the BJP and the Congress. It is the party network and the larger-than-life image of Narendra Modi that works for the saffron candidate.

In contrast, the “hand” rides piggyback on the shoulders of the candidate. So, if Geniben crowdfunded her campaign, the case was no different for the other Congress nominees.

Besides Banaskantha, Congress candidates Chandanji Thakor in Patan and Tushar Chaudhary in Sabarkantha are putting up a challenge to the BJP in north Gujarat. Similarly, the sitting MLA and leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Amit Chawda from Anand (central Gujarat), aggressive tribal leader and sitting MLA Anant Patel from Valsad (south Gujarat) and former MP Prabhaben Taviyad from Dahod are the formidable Congress nominees.

What is helping the Congress in a major way in north and central Gujarat is the simmering anger among the Kshatriyas following a controversy kicked off by BJP’s Rajkot candidate Parshottam Rupala with his “derogatory” remarks against the community. During a campaign rally, Rupala, a Union minister and close to Prime Minister Modi, had claimed that the Kshatriya kings broke bread with the British and even married off their daughters to them, questioning their loyalty to the nation.

This stirred a hornet’s nest with strong protests from the community across the Kshatriya-dominated regions in the state who wanted the BJP to drop Rupala as the candidate. Apologies by Rupala and Gujarat BJP chief Paatil didn’t work. The agitation, however, seemed to have tapered off when the BJP went ahead with Rupala.

Two veteran leaders from north Gujarat and Saurashtra (one from the Congress and the other from the BJP) told The Telegraph that the Kshatriya anger would sure have an impact on the BJP’s prospects in these regions as well as Anand, where Chawda, a Kshatriya, is contesting.

In Rajkot, a prestige seat for the BJP since it is the place where the RSS had its moorings in Gujarat, the Congress has fielded the formidable Paresh Dhanani, a Leuva Patel, against the BJP’s Rupala, a Kadva Patel.

While the Kshatriya protests would impact Rupala’s chances, the Patel vote is set to split between the Leuvas for Dhanani and the Kadvas for Rupala in Rajkot. Much to the chagrin of the BJP, veteran Leuva leader Naresh Patel has appealed to his community to back a senior community leader like Dhanani.

Dhanani, like his rival, belongs to Amreli and had created a major upset by defeating Rupala earlier from this seat. Like all past elections, the Congress in Gujarat relies solely on the strength of its candidates and the fissures in the BJP. They hope against hope to do better in 2024.