Shobhnaben Baraiya: BJP's New Face In Sabarkantha (Facebook image@Shobhnaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya)Shobhnaben Mahendrasinh Baraiya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in August 2022. Before that she has been with the Congress since 1998. Baraiya belongs to the Thakor community, falls under Other Backward Class (OBC) category. This is the first time Baraiya is entering the electoral politics. By profession, she is a primary school teacher and has been working for past 30 years. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, BJP fields Shobhnaben Baraiya from Sabarkantha Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat.
Baraiya is competing against Congress’ Dr Tushar Chaudhary, a seasoned politician with impressive track records. She is facing opposition from her own party. Reportedly, some of the BJP workers are not happy with her candidacy by replacing Bhikhaji Thakor. The fact that Baraiya is a new comer and gained ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election has garnered frown towards the party leadership’s rationality. Congress hopes that fall within BJP and opposition against Baraiya’s candidature will work in their favour.
With its diverse demography, Sabarkantha is at the heart of Gujarat’s electoral politics. For the past two Lok Sabha elections, the competition was between BJP’s Rathod Dipsinh Shankarsinh and Congress’ Rajendrasinh Shivsinh. In both election, Shankarsinh defeated Shivsinh. Sabarkantha constituency constitutes seven assembly seats including, Himatnagar, Idar, Khedbrahma, Bhiloda, Modasa, Bayad, and Prantij. Sabrakantha used to be a Congress bastion since its first election in 1951 and Gulzarilal Nanda won the seat at that time. Following two consecutive wins, Congress attained a strong grip on the seat. However, during the 2009 general election, BJP won the seat. Since then, the seat has been under the dominion of BJP.