Geniben Thakor, who ended Congress’s Gujarat drought, utilized crowdsourcing for her campaign
She won the title of "giant slayer" five years later in the Gujarat Assembly elections, defeating veteran BJP politician Shankar Chaudhary by more than 6,000 votes. In the elections of 2022, she held her position.
Following two consecutive landslide victories by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat during the Lok Sabha elections, Geniben Thakor’s pivotal win allowed the Congress party to make a name for itself in the state.
However, there are other reasons why Ms. Thakor’s victory over Rekhaben Chaudhari of the BJP in the Banaskantha Lok Sabha constituency is noteworthy. By 30,406 votes, the two-time MLA from the Vav seat claimed victory.
Controversies and Suspensions: Geniben Thakor’s Challenges in the Gujarat Assembly
Geniben Thakor was born on January 1, 1975, and graduated from Jain Vishva Bharati Institute Ladnun with a BA in distant education.
When she unsuccessfully ran in the 2012 assembly elections from the Vav constituency, she made her electoral debut.
She won the title of “giant slayer” five years later in the Gujarat Assembly elections, defeating veteran BJP politician Shankar Chaudhary by more than 6,000 votes. In the elections of 2022, she held her position.
She was one of the sixteen MLAs that the Gujarat Assembly suspended from office last year for their opposition to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s removal from office as an MP. Ms. Thakor and ten other Congress MLAs faced suspension once more in February 2024 for their remarks regarding fictitious state government positions. Two Assembly meetings were covered under the one-day suspension.
Despite having few resources, Ms. Thakor made the decision to run in the general elections in 2024. Her Lok Sabha campaign in 2024 was crowdfunded after the Congress declared it could not afford to support its nominees.
Ms Thakor is renowned for enforcing the liquor ban and for taking a firm stance against alcohol. Her brother Ramesh Nagaji was arrested inebriated.
Even in situations where her family was involved, Ms. Thakor remained steadfast in her beliefs.
She was also in favour of changing the Marriage Act. She urged that marriage registrations take place in the taluka where the couple resides and suggested making parental signatures a requirement for marriage registrations.
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