Anand, May 4 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Harshad Parmar won the Umreth Assembly by-election in Gujarat on Monday, defeating Congress rival Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan by 30,743 votes, according to the Election Commission of India.

At the conclusion of counting after all 23 rounds, Parmar secured 85,500 votes, while Chauhan polled 54,757.

The counting process began in the morning and progressed steadily, with the BJP candidate maintaining a consistent lead throughout.

The bypoll to the Umreth Assembly constituency in Anand district was held on April 23 following the death of sitting BJP MLA Govind Parmar in March, a four-term legislator who had retained the seat in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Harshad Parmar, the son of the late MLA, is contesting his first major election. He has previously served in local governance roles, and his candidature was backed by senior BJP leaders during the campaign.

Chauhan, a senior Congress leader, has served three terms as president of the Umreth taluka panchayat and currently holds a key organisational role in the party’s central zone in Gujarat.

Polling recorded a turnout of just over 59 per cent across more than 300 polling stations, with six candidates in the fray.

However, the contest remained largely bipolar between the BJP and the Congress party after other parties played a limited role.

The Umreth seat, which comprises a mix of rural and semi-urban areas, has traditionally witnessed direct contests between the two parties.

With this result, the BJP retains the constituency, maintaining its presence in the region.

The by-election took place alongside Assembly bypolls in multiple states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tripura and Nagaland, with counting for all constituencies carried out on Monday.

The results were also announced on the same day as the outcomes of Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, where voting was held across a total of 824 seats.

These elections are being viewed as an important gauge of political strength for national parties such as the BJP and Congress, as well as for key regional parties aiming to hold on to their established bases.

–IANS

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