Ahmedabad, Jun 4 (PTI) The BJP has clinched 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Gujarat, including the Surat seat which it had won unopposed, but missed a hat-trick of a clean sweep with the Congress bagging Banaskantha constituency, a first victory in the general elections in the western state in the last ten years.
Prominent candidates to win elections on Tuesday include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, and their Cabinet colleague Parshottam Rupala.
Notably, the saffron party had won all 26 seats in the 2014 and 2019 general elections in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah.
Shah won with a margin of 7,44,716 votes by polling 10,10,972 votes, crushing his nearest rival from Congress, Sonal Patel, who secured 2,66,256 votes.
Mandaviya won the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat by defeating his nearest Congress rival Lalit Vasoya by a margin of 3.83 lakh votes, as per the Election Commission. Mandaviya bagged 6,33,118 votes, while Vasoya polled 2,49,758.
Rupala, who faced protests from the Rajput community due to his remarks on erstwhile rulers in the run-up to elections, won from the Rajkot constituency by a margin of 4,84,260 votes defeating senior Congress leader Paresh Dhanani. Rupala polled 8,57,984 votes and Dhanani 3,73,724.
Another prominent victory was registered by Gujarat BJP president and sitting MP CR Paatil from Navsari constituency who won by a margin of 7.73 lakh votes, handing a crushing defeat to his nearest Congress rival Naishadh Desai.
With this victory, Paatil has secured a fourth straight term in Lok Sabha.
Paatil secured 10,31,035 votes while Desai polled 2,57,514 votes.
Elections were held on 25 of 26 constituencies in Gujarat as the BJP had won the Surat seat unopposed even when the election process was underway after the nomination of the Congress candidate was rejected due to irregularities in the signatures. Subsequently, all other candidates withdrew from the contest.
In Bharuch seat, held earlier by Congress veteran Ahmed Patel, BJP’s sitting MP Mansukh Vasava defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s Chaitar Vasava by a margin of 85,696 votes.
The only consolation for Congress was Banaskantha constituency as it broke its decade-long jinx in Gujarat with the party candidate Geniben Thakor emerging victorious by more than 30,000 votes.
Thakor defeated the BJP’s Rekha Chaudhari by 30,406 votes in a nail-biting contest. Thakor polled 6,71,883 votes against her rival’s 6,41,477.
“I express my heartfelt thanks to Congress workers and voters of Banaskantha. The people of Banaskantha have given me both vote and note, and I will fulfil all promises made to them,” said Thakor who had crowdfunded her campaign.
Thakor, who is currently a Congress MLA from Vav Assembly seat, said she received an overwhelming response to her appeal for campaign donations.
Her rival Rekha Chaudhary, an engineering college professor, was a first-time candidate.
The BJP had won Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat on the last three occasions, including the 2013 bye-election. Congress had won the seat in 2004, and again in 2009 when Mukesh Gadhvi defeated BJP’s Haribhai Chaudhary. PTI KA PD ARU NP KRK NSK
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