Patel, who switched from Congress to the BJP this June, contested the polls from his hometown, Viramgam and won by a margin of 51707 votes. The Patidar quota stir leader contested against Congress' Lakha Bharwad and Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Amarsinh Thakore. He got 99,155 votes.
The victorious MLAs unanimously chose Bhupendra Patel as the BJP's Gujarat Legislative Party. Named the party's CM candidate for Gujarat, the outgoing chief minister trounced Congress' Amiben Yagnik by over 1 lakh votes.
A new political tussle came to the fore after posters against the Karnataka Horticulture Minister N Muniratna were seen across the Rajarajeshwari Nagar after Congress cited deleting of votes and complained to the Election Commission that the Vokkaliga votes were being deleted from the voter
Confirming that all votes had been counted, the Election Commission on Thursday late evening said that Congress bagged a total of 40 seats in the Assembly, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished at 25 seats.
The counting of votes was held in 19 rounds in which Congress candidate Mandavi got 65479 votes, BJP candidate Netam got 44308 votes and Sarva Adivasi Samaj candidate Akbar Ram Korram got 23417 votes.
As the counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections progresses, the Congress inched closer to victory, safely crossing the halfway mark to form the government in the hill state.
As the counting for the bypolls of Sardarshahar Assembly constituency is underway, Congress candidate Anil Sharma is leading with a margin of 26,852 votes.
As Congress was poised to form government in Himachal Pradesh according to the results and trends of the counting of votes, party president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra has contributed in party's performance in the hill state.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur continues his lead from his constituency Seraj, with a margin of 38183 votes, as per the latest trends of the Election Commission of India.
Congress candidate Harish Janartha on Thursday won from Shimla constituency in Himachal Pradesh with a margin of 3037 votes. While Congress is leading on 39 seats out of 68 and BJP is leading on 18.