BJP wins Jasdan Assembly bypoll in Gujarat

ANI photo

Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday swept the Jasdan Assembly bypoll in Gujarat by more than 19,500 votes. The counting of votes for Jasdan Assembly seat had begun at 8 am.

BJP's Kunvarji Bavalia won the bypoll by 19985 votes.

Jasdan assembly by-poll result: BJP candidate Kunvarji Bavalia wins by 19985 votes; Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani says,"This victory is a clear indication that BJP will win with majority in 2019." pic.twitter.com/JnlpD9z5wG — ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2018

The byelection, which was held on December 20, has become a battle of prestige for the ruling party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The bypoll was mainly a bipolar contest between Kunvarji Bavalia, a state Cabinet minister of the BJP and influential leader of the Koli community from the area, and Avsar Nakiya of the Congress.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter and said, "I thank the people of Jasdan for blessing the BJP and supporting the Party's development agenda. Congratulations to Kunvarjibhai Bavaliya for the victory. Kudos to the @BJP4Gujarat team, CM @vijayrupanibjp and @jitu_vaghani for their efforts."

I thank the people of Jasdan for blessing the BJP and supporting the Party's development agenda.

Congratulations to Kunvarjibhai Bavaliya for the victory.

Kudos to the @BJP4Gujarat team, CM @vijayrupanibjp and @jitu_vaghani for their efforts. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 23, 2018

The constituency has 2.32 lakh registered voters.

Bavalia had won the seat on Congress ticket in 1995, 1998, 2002, 2007 and 2017.

Since the formation of Gujarat in 1960, the BJP has won this seat only once - in the by-election held in 2009 when Bavalia vacated the seat after being elected to Lok Sabha from Rajkot.

(With inputs from PTI)