NEWS
ANALYSIS
SPECIALS
INTERVIEW
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
CONSTITUENCY
ISSUES
GALLERY
MANIFESTOS
INDIA SPEAKS!
COUNTDOWN
CHAT
PREVIOUS RESULTS
SCHEDULE
DISCUSSION GROUP

BJP on a winning streak in Gujarat

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won 14 of the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and was leading in four while the Congress won three and was leading in five.

The BJP, however, suffered a major reverse when Union minister A K Patel, who had won the Mehsana seat continuously since 1984, lost to Atmaram Patel of the Congress by more than 55,700 votes.

While the BJP won Kutch, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Porbander, Junagarh, Amreli, Dhandhuka (SC), Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Banaskantha, Dahod, Godhra, Surat and Bulsar, the Congress won Mehsana, Patan and Kheda.

Latest trends showed that the BJP had established large leads in Bhavnagar, Baroda, Broach and Mandvi (ST), while the Congress was leading in Surendranagar, Sabarkantha, Kapadwanj, Anand and Chhota Udepur.

In Kapadwanj, former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela of the Congress had established a massive lead of 151,000 votes over Jaisinh Chouhan of the BJP.

In Ahmedabad, the BJP's Harin Pathak defeated Girish Dani of the Congress by 52,968 votes in a multi-cornered contest. The BJP retained the seat.

In Surat, sitting BJP MP Kashiram Rana defeated his nearest rival, Rubin Pachchigar of the Congress, by 249,197 votes.

In Gandhinagar, Union Home Minister L K Advani won by 188,927 votes over his Congress rival T N Seshan. Advani won the seat for the third time since 1991. He had not contested the 1996 election on account of having been charged in the havala scandal.

In Junagadh, Bhavnaben Chikhalia of the BJP defeated Pethalji Chavda of the Congress by 46,848 votes.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report