Anand (Gujarat), May 4 (PTI) BJP candidate Harshad Parmar won the bypoll to Umreth assembly seat in Gujarat on Monday, defeating his nearest rival from Congress, Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan, by a margin of more than 30,000 votes.
Parmar bagged 85,500 votes, while Chauhan polled 54,757 votes, as per data on the Election Commission’s website.
The bypoll, held on April 23, was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Govind Parmar on March 6 following a heart attack.
The BJP fielded his son Harshad Parmar, and this was his first major election.
Congress nominee Chauhan served as the president of the Umreth taluka panchayat for three consecutive terms between 2000 and 2015. He is currently the Opposition party’s coordinator for the central zone in the state.
Parmar dedicated his victory to his late father, and thanked the people of his constituency for voting overwhelmingly in his favour by braving extreme heat.
“Today’s lead is historical for a bypoll. Because of the work my late father has done in this area, the people here decided from the very first day that they will only vote for me. With their blessings I have won today by a huge margin,” Parmar told reporters.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also congratulated Parmar and thanked the people of Umreth.
“Heartfelt congratulations to Shri Harshadbhai Parmar, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, for the resounding victory in the Umreth Assembly by-election. Hearty congratulations also to all the party workers who are truly rare gems,” he said.
“Thanks to the people of Umreth for their unwavering faith in the BJP’s politics of development. The river of service for development and public welfare in Umreth will continue to flow unceasingly, and Umreth will make a splendid contribution for the creation of ‘Developed Gujarat’,” the CM further said in his post on X.
Congress candidate Chauhan, on the other hand, blamed EVMs for his defeat.
“We have doubts about this, and we have also informed the election officer in writing. People enthusiastically voted in favour of the Congress, but due to EVMs, the BJP emerged victorious,” he claimed.
Anand Lok Sabha MP said BJP workers have worked hard for the victory.
“BJP workers did not just seek votes at the time of elections but worked for all of five years, and this is its result. This is also the result of Govind Parmar’s development work in the assembly seat,” he said.
The four other candidates in the fray, comprising three independents and one from a lesser-known party, did not manage to cross the 1000-vote mark, with NOTA polling 2,335 votes.
In the election held on April 23, a voter turnout of 59.04 per cent was recorded at 306 polling stations of the assembly seat. PTI KA PD GK BNM
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