Gujarat by-elections: BJP, Congress lead in 3 seats each, Alpesh Thakor trailing

Ahmedabad, Oct 24: The counting of votes held in six assembly seats of Gujarat began this morning and after three hours of counting, both the BJP and the Congress and leading in three seats each.

By-elections were necessitated in Radhanpur and Bayad segments due to defections of Congress MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala, respectively, to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP fielded both Thakor and Zala from Radhanpur and Bayad, respectively. Both Thakor and Zala are said to be trailing.

Four of the six seats that went to polls on October 21 were won by the BJP in 2017 assembly elections, while the rest two by the Congress.

Apart from Thakor and Zala, the BJP fielded Jivrajbhai Patel in Tharad, Jignesh Sevak in Lunawada, Ajmalbhai Thakor in Kheralu and Jagdish Patel in Amraiwadi.

The Congress contestants were Gulabsinh Rajput (Tharad), Raghubhai Desai (Radhanpur), Babuji Thakor (Kheralu), Jasubhai Patel (Bayad), Dharmendra Patel (Amraiwadi) and Gulabsinh Chauhan (Lunawada).

A voter turnout of 53.67 per cent was recorded in the byelections held for Tharad seat in Banaskantha district, Radhanpur in Patan, Kheralu in Mehsana, Bayad in Arvalli, Amraiwadi in Ahmedabad and Lunawada in Mahisagar district.