Cong leading in Gujarat Vav assembly bypoll in early trends

Palanpur: Congress candidate Gulabsinh Rajput is leading by a margin of 1,174 votes over his nearest rival and BJP candidate Swarupji Thakor in the by-election to the Vav assembly in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, officials said.

The Congress candidate registered this lead at the end of the third round of counting, which is underway at the Government Engineering College in Palanpur amid tight security.

While Rajput polled 12,361 votes at the end of third round, BJP's Thakor got 11,187.

Independent candidate Mavji Patel received 6,510 votes at the conclusion of the third round, as per an update released by the poll officials.

The counting of votes, which started at 8 am, will be conducted in 23 rounds for a total of 321 booths at the counting centre, they said.

A voter turnout of 70.55 per cent was recorded in the by-election held on November 13.

The Vav election turned out to be a three-cornered fight with BJP rebel Mavji Patel giving a tough fight to Congress' Rajput and BJP's Thakor.

Seven other candidates -- six independents and one from the Bharatiya Jan Parishad party -- were also in the fray for the bypoll, which was necessitated following the resignation of Congress MLA Geniben Thakor, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Banaskantha in June.

In the 2022 assembly polls, BJP's Swarupji Thakor lost from Vav seat, a Congress bastion, to opposition party candidate Geniben Thakor.

Mavji Patel (73), who comes from the dominant Chaudhary community, was suspended as BJP's primary member on Sunday for his decision to contest as an independent candidate.

The constituency has been a Congress stronghold, with Geniben Thakor winning the seat in 2017 and again in 2022.

In the general elections held earlier this year, Geniben Thakor defeated BJP's Rekhaben Chaudhary, a debutant, by more than 30,000 votes in Banaskantha, becoming the only Congress candidate to register a win in Gujarat.

As many as 159 government employees were appointed for the counting of votes, they said.

Also, 400 police personnel, CAPF, and SRP personnel are posted on duty at the counting centre equipped with CCTV cameras.