Gujarat polls: Congress's Kanti Sodaparmar confident of winning Anand constituency by 25, 000 votes

Congress's Kanti Sodaparmar, the sitting MLA who had won in 2017 by a margin of little over 5,000 votes, says he is confident of bigger margin despite AAP in the fray. As many as 15 candidates are in the fray in Anand, which is known as the milk capital of the country. Anand city is home to the famous Amul brand of dairy products that is owned by the Gujarat Milk Marketing Cooperative Federation. Anand figures in the second phase of polling in Gujarat on December 5.

Anand city is one of the seven Assembly constituencies in Anand district, of which the Congress had won five in 2017.  There are a total of 3,13,857 voters in the constituency: 1,59,122 men, 1,54,730 women and five transgenders.  Kshatriyas are the dominant caste in the region. "Before 2017, I lost narrowly three times. But after becoming MLA I have worked for the people. This time I will win by 25,000 votes," Sodaparmar said.  The BJP government has given nothing but inflation, unemployment and corruption to the people, he alleged.

Senior Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki told PTI that his party was working to minimise the damage that the AAP may cause. Anand Assembly constituency consists of the municipalities of Anand, Karamsand and Vidyanagar besides 14 villages. Five of these villages border Anand city and have turned into semi-urban centres. Private universities like Bhikabai Medical University, Charusat University and CVM University besides the government-run Agriculture University and Sardar Patel University are located in Anand.