Gujarat’s Saurashtra election results 2017: Congress builds lead in early rounds of counting

Besides Morbi, Congress was leading from a majority of seats in Junagadh, Surendranagar, Gir Somnath, Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar and Porbandar. BJP, on the other hand was ahead in Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Botad districts. Barring Porbandar and Devbhumi Dwarka and Porbandar, the rest of the districts have sizable Patidar population and quota leader Hardik Patel had exhorted his community members not to vote for the BJP this election.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who is seeking re-election from Rajkot (West) seat, was initially trailing to his Congress challenger Indranil Rajyaguru in the beginning but had overtaken him after five rounds. BJP was leading on six of the eight seats in the district. Congress was leading from Jasdan and Dhoraji.

ALSO READ: Gujarat Assembly Elections Results 2017 LIVE UPDATES

In Junagadh, Congress was leading in four out of five seats while in Amreli, it was leading in all the five seats in the district. Sitting Congress MLA from Amreli, Paresh Dhanani was ahead while senior BJP leader Dilip Sanghani was trailing to Congress candidate JV Kakadiya from Dhari seat of Amreli. Hirabhai Solanki, who is a parliamentary secretary was trailing from Rajula seat.

However, the BJP was buoyant in Bhavnagar with its candidates leading form six out of eight seats. Gujarat state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani was leading with more than 2000 votes from his constituency of Bhavnagar (west). But Congress was ahead in Bhavnagar (east) and Gariyadhar seats in the district.

See in Pictures | PM Modi flashes victory sign, celebrations begin as BJP returns to power

Senior BJP leader and former minister Saurabh Patel had built a slender lead over his Congress rival from Botad seat while minister Atmaram Parmar was also leading from Gadhda seat.

Former Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Mmodhwadia was leading from Porbandar seat as outgoing Agriculture Minister and sitting MLA Babu Bokhiria was struggling.

In Surendranagar, BJP was ahead only from Limdi seat while Congress candidates were leading from Dasada, Dhranagadhra, Wadhwan and Chotila seats. In Kutch, both the parties were leading from three seats each. In Jamnagar, BJP was leading from three out of five seats. While former state BJP president Ranchhod Faldu had build a huge lead from Jamnagar (south seat), Raghavji Patel, who had defected to BJP from Congress at the Rajya Sabha election in August this year was trailing. Congress was also leading from Kalavad seat. Energy Minister Chiman Sapariya had a slender lead from Jamjodhpur seat.