Gujarat bypolls 2024 | With five more MLAs swearing in, BJP's tally goes up to 161 in the house of 182 seats

Ahmedabad, DHNS: Five BJP leaders including four Congress turncoats on Tuesday took oath as members of Gujarat Assembly, taking the tally of BJP in the assembly to 161, the highest ever in state's electoral history. These five MLAs including veteran ex Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia had won the recently held bypolls.

Assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary administered the oath. Soon after the swearing in ceremony, Rushikesh Patel, the BJP minister and government spokesperson said in a media briefing, "All five BJP candidates won with record margins which had never happened in the past. With these, BJP has increased its tally to 161. Bypolls will be held for two more seats (Visavadar fell vacant after AAP MLA quit the party and Vav where Congress MLA Geniben Thakor won Lok Sabha election) in the near future and the BJP will win those seats as well with record margin."

Bypolls were held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls in the state on Porbandar, Manavadar, Khambhat, Vaghodiya and Vijapur seats after sitting MLAs resigned and switched over to BJP. BJP fielded all turncoats who won with comfortable margins.

Modhwadia retained Porbandar seat by a margin of 1.16 lakh votes. Another senior Congress leader who switched over to BJP, CJ Chavda won from Vijapur by a margin of over 56,000 votes. Other candidates who won include Chirag Patel from Khambhat, Dharmendrasinh Vaghela from Vaghodia and Arvind Ladani from Manavadar.

In the house of 182 seats, Congress at present has 13 MLAs including Thakor, who will have to resign to continue as member of parliament. Aam Aadmi Party has four seats, one MLA is from Samajwadi Party and two are independent MLAs. Two other seats are also vacant following resignations.

While the BJP is the strongest ever in the state and opposition at its weakest foot, the opposition Congress received a huge relief in the Lok Sabha polls after it snatched one seat from BJP after a gap of ten years. Out of 26 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress managed to win Banaskantha seat. The party had drawn blanks in the past two election in 2014 and 2019.