BJP sweeps, Congress weeps in Gujarat by-polls

Gandhinagar, June 5 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wedneaday wrested two Lok Sabha and four assembly seats from the Congress in the by-elections held in Gujarat.

The BJP strength in the assembly has now risen from 115 to 119 and its Lok Sabha tally from Gujarat from 15 to 17.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the people had rejected the Congress wholesale.

“Heartfelt gratitude to the people of Gujarat for reposing faith in the BJP yet again. These victories clearly show (that) people are fed up with Congress,” he tweeted.

“This indicates how people have lost trust in the centre and want change desperately,” he added.

In the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat, former Congress legislator and BJP nominee Vithal Radadiya secured a massive 1.34 lakh margin, defeating his nearest Congress rival Vinu Ampara.

In the Banaskantha Lok Saba seat, BJP’s Hari Chaudhary notched a 71,000 vote victory against Congress’ Krishna Gadhvi, the widow of former sitting party legislator Mukesh Gadhvi.

Making a clean sweep in the assembly by-polls, the BJP wrested four seats held by the Congress in different parts of the state, including Morva-Hadaf, Limbdi, Dhoraji and Jetpur.

In the Congress bastion Morva-Hadaf seat, BJP’s Nimisha Suthar defeated Bhupendra Khant of Congress by nearly 18,000 votes.

Congress’ Satish Patel bit the dust as the BJP’s Kiritsinh Rana trounced him by over 24,000 votes at Limbdi.

Dhoraji also voted the BJP way when its Pravin Mankadiya wrested the seat from his Congress rival Hari Patel by a margin of over 11,000 votes.

Jetpur also nodded for the BJP’s Jayesh Radadiya who trounced his nearest Congress rival Jagdish Pambhar by over 52,000 votes.

The leader of the opposition in the Gujarat assembly, Shankersinh Vaghela, said: “We will work harder to reach out to the people of the state.”

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