Porbandar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya registered a significant win from the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat on Tuesday, winning by over 3.80 lakh votes.
With the counting process nearing its end, the Union health and family welfare minister had gained an unassailable lead of 3,80,285 votes over his nearest Congress rival Lalit Vasoya.
The birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, Porbandar Lok Sabha seat of Gujarat comprises seven Assembly segments of Gondal, Jetpur, Dhoraji, Porbandar, Kutiyana, Manavadar and Keshod and and includes parts of Porbandar, Rajkot and Junagadh districts of the state. Like Gandhinagar and Rajkot seats, Porbandar Lok Sabha seat too is considered to be a BJP stronghold with the party consistently holding the seat from 1991 till 2009.
Although late Vitthal Radadiya, the then Congress candidate wrested the seat in the 2009 election, Radadiya went on to join the BJP in 2013 and won the by-election that year. He also won the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Following Vitthal Radadiya's death in 2019, BJP fielded sitting MP Rameshbhai Lavjibhai Dhaduk, who won the seat.
Mansukh Mandaviya was fighting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time after being a Rajya Sabha member for two terms. Known as "Green MP" for his penchant for cycling to Parliament, Mandaviya, 51, has been steadily rising through the party ranks. He currently heads the ministries of health and chemicals and fertilizers.
2024 Polls: Voting for the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat of Gujarat was held in the 3rd phase of Lok Sabha election 2024 on May 7. According to the Election Commission of India, the seat recorded a voter turnout of 51.83 percent. Pertinently, all 25 of 26 Lok Sabha seats went to the polls in the 3rd phase itself. BJP candidate for Surat Lok Sabha seat, Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed after Congress candidate Nilesh Kumbhani's nomination was rejected by the election authorities during the nomination phase.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, sitting BJP MP defeated Congress candidate Lalit Vasoya by a margin of over 2.29 lakh votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Vitthal Radadiya won the seat against NCP candidate Jadeja Kandalbhai Saramanbhai by a margin of over 2.67 lakh votes.
