Kunvarji Bavaliya wins Jasdan bypoll, BJP tally in Gujarat touches 100

In what can be seen as a huge morale booster for the BJP, the party recorded a comfortable victory in the Jasdan bypoll. The battle between minister and BJP candidate Kunvarji Bavaliya and his one-time associate, Congress's Avsar Nakiya, was expected to be close, but in the end, the guru easily triumphed over the shishya.

Bavaliya, who joined BJP less than six months ago, defeated Nakiya by a margin of 19,979 votes: Bavaliya polled 90,262 votes, Nakiya secured 70,283, while 2,146 voters opted for NOTA. Six other candidates were in the fray, but none of them polled more than 1,000 votes and they all lost their election deposit.

Bavaliya's winning margin of nearly 20,000 votes was more than double his victory margin of 9,277 votes in 2017. Bavaliya was elected to the Assembly for the fifth time on a Congress ticket in 2017, but defected to the BJP earlier this year.

With this win, BJP's tally in the 182-member Assembly has gone up to 100, while Congress's tally remains at 76.

A visibly elated Bavaliya said the victory belongs to the people, and thanked them for retaining their trust in him. On the other hand, Nakiya attributed his defeat to EVM tampering.

As celebrations began in Jasdan and at state BJP headquarters, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the results were a reality check for Congress, accusing the party of spreading lies after winning Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. "The Congress was resorting to all kinds of filthy lies after the Assembly elections, but the people of Jasdan have given a fitting reply to it," he said.