Jamnagar, Gujarat (The Hawk): Rivaba Jadeja, a BJP candidate and the wife of Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, made a strong start to her political career by winning the Jamnagar North constituency by a margin of more than 61,000 votes.
She competed against Bipendrasinh Jadeja, a candidate for the Congress.
According to the Election Commission, Rivaba received 84,336 votes compared to the Congress nominee's 22,822 votes and Karshanbhai Karmur of the AAP's 33,880 votes.
The party chose her as its candidate over Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, a current MLA and former Minister of State for Civil Supplies.
Dharmendrasinh was upset with the party's choice and "seriously considered" running as an independent candidate, but the party appointed him as the district's assembly constituency coordinator.
Rivaba, a mechanical engineer, had begun studying for the competitive tests and was interested in entering the civil service. Ravindra Jadeja, an all-arounder for India, was the man she later wed in 2016. Nidhyanaba, the couple's daughter, was born.
Her sister-in-law Naynaba had vigorously campaigned against her throughout the election, and even her father-in-law had urged people to support Congress candidate Bipendrasinh.
(Inputs from Agencies)
