Gujarat, June 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has established a strong lead in 23 Lok Sabha constituencies while the Indian National Congress (INC) is ahead in only two seats in Gujarat as the counting of votes is underway. In the hotly-contested Rajkot seat, Union Minister Purshottam Rupala has secured a significant lead of 54,172 votes, totaling 86,330 votes. His closest competitor, Congress' Paresh Dhanani, trails far behind.
In the tribal belt of Gujarat, which includes Dahod, Chhotaudepur, and Panchmahal, the BJP is leading in all constituencies. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is leading in Gandhinagar with 72,718 votes, a margin of 54,228 votes over his Congress rival Sonal Patel, who has garnered 18,490 votes. From the Porbandar seat, BJP's Mansukh Mandaviya has amassed 95,788 votes, leading by 58,498 votes. In Vadodara, Hemang Joshi of BJP is leading with 95,928 votes, holding a commanding lead of 71,510 votes.
The Gujarat Lok Sabha elections were conducted on May 7, 2024, across 26 seats. This year, 35 Muslim candidates contested, although none were fielded by Congress. The main opposition, comprising the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) under the INDIA bloc, is striving to challenge BJP's dominance. Prominent candidates include Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, Purshottam Rupala in Rajkot, Mansukh Mandaviya in Porbandar, Mitesh Rameshbhai Patel in Anand, and Nimu Bambhania in Bhavnagar.
Notably, Surat did not participate in the polling this year as BJP candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared elected unopposed on April 23, 2024, following the rejection of the Congress candidate's nomination and withdrawal of other contenders. The BJP's stronghold in Gujarat has remained unchallenged in previous elections, sweeping all 26 seats in both 2014 and 2019. In the 2019 elections, the BJP replicated its clean sweep with a voter turnout of 64.11 per cent. This year, exit polls predicted another sweeping victory for the BJP, despite the Congress-AAP alliance's efforts to break the streak.
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