Ahmedabad: The BJP retained the prestigious Vadodara Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with a huge margin and won six assembly seats, while the Congress won three in Gujarat. The ruling BJP also won the Vadodara Lok Sabha Sabha by over 300,000 votes.
Bypolls for nine assembly seats – Maninagar, Deesa, Tankara, Khambhalia, Mangrol, Talaja, Anand, Matar and Limkheda, and one parliamentary seat – Vadodara were held Sep 13.
On Tuesday, the Congress won three assembly seats – Deesa, Khambhalia and Mangrol, by a notable margin. It thanked the people for its victory.
The remaining six assembly seats, including the Maninagar seat which was vacated by then chief minister Narendra Modi, were won by the BJP.
“BJP candidate Ranjanben Bhatt has won the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat against Congress’s nominee Narendra Rawat by a margin of 3,29,507 votes,” District Collector and returning officer in Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, Avantika Singh told PTI.
Ms. Bhatt secured 5,26,763 votes out of the total 7,32,339 votes polled in the constiteuncy, while Mr. Rawat managed to get 1,97,256 votes, Ms. Singh said.
In the general elections this year, Mr. Modi had set a record margin by winning the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat by 5,70,128 votes against Congress General secretary and party’s candidate Madhusudan Mistry. Mr. Modi had got 8,45,464 votes out of the total 11.63 lakhs votes polled in the seat, while Mistry managed 2,75,336 votes.
According to Ms. Singh, 14,257 voters went for None of the Above (NOTA) option. Two independents in the fray lost their deposits, she said.
In the 2009 elections, BJP’s Balu Shukla had won the constituency with the margin of 1.36 lakh votes.
Initial trend
Ruling BJP on Tuesday won four seats while the Congress bagged two out of the nine Assembly seats in Gujarat, where bypolls were held on September 13.
On three other seats, where counting is underway, BJP is leading in two while Congress is ahead on one. “Congress candidates have been declared elected in Deesa and Mangrol seats,” Additional Chief Electoral officer A H Manek said.
“BJP candidates have been declared elected in Maninagar, Tankara, Talaja and Matar,” Mr. Manek said.
Maninagar was the seat on which Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged victorious thrice as a MLA. On remaining three seats, Congress is leading in Khambhalia, while BJP is leading in Limkheda and Anand seats.
All the seats were earlier held by BJP and were vacated after their sitting MLAs were elected as MPs.
The by-polls are also considered as the litmus test of new Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel’s leadership.
The BJP had sought votes in the name of Mr. Modi and Ms. Patel has asked voters to gift 10 seats to him ahead of his 64th birthday. Mr. Modi will reach Ahmedabad this evening and will be present here on his birthday on Wednesday.
Early trends
Initial rounds of counting indicated a neck and neck fight on at least five seats in the Assembly elections. The BJP is leading in Anand, Tankara, Maninagar, Talaja and Limkheda Assembly seats while the Congress is leading in Khambalia, Matar, Mangrol and Deesa, according to election officials.
A total of 45 candidates are in the fray for nine Assembly seats and four for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Assembly seats are Maninagar (Ahmedabad), Deesa (Banaskantha), Tankara (Rajkot), Khambhaila (Devboomi Dwarka), Mangrol (Junagadh), Talaja (Bhavnagar), Anand (Anand), Matar (Kheda) and Limkheda (Dahod).
A total of 50.95 per cent voter turn out was recorded in the by-elections held on September 13.
In Gujarat the BJP is expecting a thumping victory by winning all the seats. Mr. Modi is also expected to be present this afternoon. The by-polls were necessitated in the nine seats as sitting BJP MLAs resigned after winning the Lok Sabha polls, including Mr. Modi, who vacated the Maninagar seat as the sitting MLA.
Though all these seats were earlier held by BJP, Congress is hoping to make dent this time by leveraging the absence of Mr. Modi in Gujarat.
