Gujarat elections: BJP wins in Morbi where over 140 died due to bridge collapse
BJP candidate Amrutiya Kantilal Shivlal defeated the Congress’ Jayantilal Patel by 62,079 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday won in the Morbi constituency, where a newly renovated suspension bridge collapsed on October 30 and claimed 141 lives, data from the Election Commission showed.
BJP candidate Amrutiya Kantilal Shivlal defeated the Congress’ Jayantilal Patel by 62,079 votes in the Morbi constituency.
Shivlal, a former MLA who had lost in 2017, was chosen as the BJP candidate after the saffron party dropped Gujarat’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment Brijesh Merja on November 10.
The colonial-era bridge on the Machchu river had collapsed just four days after it was reopened for the public following seven months of renovation.
The police have arrested two managers of Oreva Group, which was given the contract to manage the bridge, as well as two ticket clerks, two contractors and three security guards on charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
On November 16, the Morbi Civic Body had told the Gujarat High Court that the bridge was reopened after renovation without approval.