Gandhinagar: BJP candidate Harshad Parmar won the bypoll to Umreth assembly seat in Gujarat on Monday, defeating his nearest rival from Congress, Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan, by a margin of more than 30,000 votes. Parmar bagged 85,500 votes, while Chauhan polled 54,757 votes, according to data on the Election Commission’s website.The bypoll, held on April 23, was necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Govind Parmar on March 6 following a heart attack. The BJP fielded his son Harshad Parmar, and this was his first major election.Congress nominee Chauhan served as the president of the Umreth taluka panchayat for three consecutive terms between 2000 and 2015. He is currently the Opposition party’s coordinator for the central zone in the state.Parmar dedicated his victory to his late father and thanked the people of his constituency for voting overwhelmingly in his favour, despite the extreme heat.“Today’s lead is historic for a bypoll. My late father has worked a lot in this area. So people here decided that they will vote for me. With their blessings, I have won today by a huge margin,” Parmar told reporters.Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel also congratulated Parmar and thanked the people of Umreth. Congress candidate Chauhan, on the other hand, blamed EVMs for his defeat.“We have doubts about this result, and have also informed the election officer in writing. People enthusiastically voted in favour of the Congress, but due to EVMs, the BJP emerged victorious,” Chauhan claimed. In the election held on April 23, a voter turnout of 59.04 per cent was recorded at 306 polling stations of the assembly seat.
