Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Yogesh Patel on Thursday wrested the Anand Assembly constituency in Gujarat from the Congress with a comfortable margin of 41,623 votes, bringing the prestigious seat back into the kitty of the saffron party which had won it multiple times since 1992, but lost in 2017.
He defeated sitting Congress MLA Kanti Sodha Parmar in Anand, the home of world famous Amul dairy brand.
Yogesh Patel polled 1,11,859 votes as against Mr Sodha Parmar's 70,236.
The Congress and the BJP were locked in a neck-and-neck fight in initial rounds of counting, but in the end the saffron outfit emerged victorious with a comfortable vote gap.
In 2017, the Opposition Congress had clinched the seat after a gap of 25 years. Parmar had bagged the Assembly segment five years ago by a little over 5,000 votes after three failed attempts.
As many as 15 candidates were in fray in Anand, which is among seven Assembly constituencies of Anand district, but the real fight was between Parmar and Patel.
Senior Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki told PTI that the party will analyse the reasons for its defeat and take corrective measures.
There are 3,13,857 voters in the Assembly constituency which consists of Anand, Karamsad and Vidyanagar municipalities and 14 villages. Out of the 14 villages, five border Anand city and are semi-urban centres now.
Farming of tobacco, banana and capsicum is the main source of livelihood for people in Anand, which houses the world famous co-operative dairy 'Amul' and also has an educational hub in Vidyanagar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a massive rally in Vidyanagar before the election dates were announced and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had accompanied Yogesh Patel when he filed nomination papers.
Modi also addressed a rally during the campaigning in Anand, which voted in the second phase on December 5.
In local body elections since 2017, the BJP won 36 of the 52 seats in the Anand municipality, 18 of the 28 seats in Karamsad and all the 24 seats in Vidyanagar.
Karamsad is the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Seven of the 11 taluka panchayats and both Zilla Panchayats are also with the saffron outfit.
There is 100 per cent literacy in the Anand Assembly constituency.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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