Gujarat: BJP wins Morva Hadaf Assembly bypoll

BJP's Nimisha Suthar won the by-election to Morva Hadaf (ST) Assembly constituency in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Sunday by defeating her nearest Congress rival by 45,649 votes, an official said.
Out of the total 93,179 votes polled in the by- election held on April 17, Suthar bagged 67,457 votes, while Congress nominee Suresh Katara received 21,808 votes, Panchmahal Collector Amit Arora said.

Another candidate Sushilaben Maida, who contested as an Independent, received 2,371 votes.

A total of 1,527 voters chose the NOTA (None of the Above) option, while 16 votes were declared invalid, the collector said.

The bypoll to Morva Hadaf Assembly seat, reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, was necessitated after Independent MLA Bhupendrasinh Khant was disqualified in May 2019 for submitting an invalid caste certificate.

He eventually lost an appeal in the Gujarat High Court on the issue. Khant died due to health issues in January this year.

Suthar, who is a former legislator, had won the 2013 bypoll from the same seat after the demise of the then sitting MLA Savitaben Khant.

With thisvictory, the BJP's tally in the 182-member state Assembly has gone up to 112.

BJP state president C R Paatil and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani expressed their gratitude to the voters and party workers for ensuring a huge victory for the BJP candidate.

Paatil said the public has shown an overwhelming trust and support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership at the Centre, the leadership of CM Rupani and Deputy CM Nitin Patel in Gujarat, and public-oriented decisions taken by them during the COVID-19 pandemic.