Advani wins battle, loses war

Gandhinagar: Advani's prime ministerial dreams dashed as NDA conceded a humilating defeat at the hands of UPA

However BJP's prime ministerial candidate managed to win the Gandhinagar seat by over 100,000 votes, almost half his 2004 victory margin of 217,138 votes.

The BJP leader, who contested the Lok Sabha polls for the fifth consecutive time, found his victory margin reduced due to the delimitation exercise in the Gandhinagar constituency that brought down the number of voters.

After four rounds of voting, he was ahead of his nearest Congress rival Suresh Patel by 106,963 votes.

Advani has contested from Gandhinagar in 1991, 1998, 1999 and 2004 and now in 2009.

Party supporters were planning to take out a victory rally in Gandhinagar later Saturday.