In Manjalpur, BJP pulls a bypoll surprise

3 min readVadodaraJul 10, 2026 02:30 AM IST

While Satish Patel may not possess an illustrious educational background or the flamboyant persona of his predecessor, he brings formidable administrative and organisational skills.

In a typical maneuver that has caught its own city unit “off guard”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday evening bypassed a dozen local aspirants to field an “outsider”, Satish Patel from the Chhani area of the city, for the high-stakes Manjalpur assembly bypoll.

Pulling a surprise just days before the July 13 nomination deadline, the party’s high command made a calculated move amid an intense factional war for the constituency, which will go to polls following the passing of eight-term MLA and former minister Yogesh Patel on June 2.

The unexpected nomination of Satish Patel, a veteran of the cooperative sector and who does not live in the constituency, has sent a sharp jolt through local heavyweight factions that had spent weeks fiercely lobbying for the ticket to the July 30 by-election.

While Satish Patel may not possess an illustrious educational background or the flamboyant persona of his predecessor, he brings formidable administrative and organisational skills. A former president of the Vadodara district youth wing, Patel also served as the general secretary and president of the Vadodara district BJP unit between 2000 and 2006. He has also served as the chairman of the Chhani Nagarik Sahakari Bank and a director in the Baroda Central Cooperative Bank and the Vadodara Sugar Cooperative.

In 2018, he was appointed the chairman of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) standing committee. He, however, lost the 2021 civic polls following a delimitation of the wards.

A senior party leader told this newspaper, “Filling the vacuum left by a leader who could move the state machinery with a single phone call was a challenge… the recent corporation elections had also given a fresh peek into the factions in the local areas. There was a lot of resentment among the ground workers too. It was certain that a Patel candidate ought to be fielded, given the overall permutation of the five MLAs of the constituencies in the city, but a local Patidar candidate without a controversial past or deep factional allegiance was impossible.”

The leader said that while rival factions had already begun propping up their aspiring candidates, and a few former local elected representatives were also in the running, the party decided to parachute Satish Patel from Chhani due to his “clean image” as well as “ability to manage his election campaign”.

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Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.

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