Gujarat: Son of a BJP leader jailed for attempting to murder a Dalit man won this election.
Ganesh, who is currently lodged in Junagadh district jail, was on Monday elected to the board of directors of Gondal Nagarik Sahakari Bank (GNSB), a cooperative bank located in Gondal town of Rajkot district.
Published on: 17 Sep 2024
Gujarat. Jyotiraditya Singh Jadeja alias Ganesh, son of BJP MLA Geetaba Jadeja, has entered the electoral fray despite being in jail for allegedly attempting to murder a Dalit man. Ganesh, who is currently lodged in Junagadh district jail, was on Monday elected to the board of directors of Gondal Nagarik Sahakari Bank (GNSB), a cooperative bank located in Gondal town of Rajkot district.
Elections were held on Sunday for 11 seats on the board of GNSB. However, Ganesh could not cast his vote as he was in jail. Counting of votes, which began on Sunday evening, continued overnight and the results were declared on Monday morning.
Candidates affiliated to the BJP won all 11 seats, including Ganesh, who got 5,999 preference votes, the third-highest among the 17 candidates contesting for the eight general constituency seats. Other winners included current president Ashok Pipaliya, who got the highest number of votes at 6,327.
Ganesh follows in the political footsteps of his father Jayrajsinh Jadeja, a three-time MLA from Gondal, who was also earlier elected as the vice-president of the GNSB in 1996.
Jairajsingh was elected to the Gujarat assembly in 1998 and retained his seat in 2002, but went to jail in connection with the murder of Nilesh Raiyani and Vinu Shingala in 2004. Though Jairajsingh lost the 2007 assembly elections, he successfully returned to politics in 2012.
In 2017, the Gujarat High Court overturned the sessions court’s acquittal and sentenced Jairajsingh to life imprisonment. Following his conviction, the BJP fielded his wife Gitaba Jadeja in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, which she won. She was re-elected in 2022. Jairajsingh is currently out on bail.
Ganesh was arrested on June 5 for allegedly attacking Dalit leader and National Students Union of India (NSUI) member Sanjay Solanki. Despite these charges, he managed to secure his place on the GNSB board, marking his entry into electoral politics.
