Rajkot: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and union minister Parshottam Rupala registered a massive victory against Congress' Paresh Dhanani from Rajkot, winning by over 4.8 lakh votes on Tuesday.
According to the latest ECI data , Rupala polled 8,57,984 votes, as many as 4,84,260 more than Dhanani who polled 3,73,724 votes. Rajkot Lok Sabha seat comprises seven assembly segments of Tankara, Rajkot West, Jasdan, Wankaner, Rajkot South, Rajkot East, and Rajkot Rural and includes parts of Rajkot and Morbi districts of Gujarat.
The ruling BJP won 24 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. Among BJP heavyweights, Union Home Minister Amit Shah won by a massive margin of over 7 lakh votes. Apart from Rupala, union minister Mansukh Mandaviya also won by a margin of over 3.80 lakh votes. State BJP president CR Paatil was leading by a margin of over 6.78 lakh votes. Notably, the BJP had swept Gujarat, the home state of PM Modi and Shah, in the 2014 and 2019 general elections by winning all 26 seats.
Rajkot has been a BJP stronghold with Prime Minister Narendra Modi beginning his political journey from the seat. Modi won the by-election to the Gujarat assembly from Rajkot in 2001. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, BJP's sitting MP from the seat Kundariya Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai has been winning from the seat, but was benched by the BJP this time.
Caste factor was expected to play a key role in Rajkot. Rupala and Dhanani both belong to the Kadva Patidar community.
2024 Polling: Polling for the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat of Gujarat was held in the 3rd phase of Lok Sabha election 2024 on May 7. As per the Election Commission of India, the Rajkot Lok Sabha seat recorded a voter turnout of 59.69 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, BJP candidate Kundariya Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai defeated Congress candidate Kagathara Lalitbhai by nearly 3.7 lakh votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Kalyanjibhai defeated Kunvarjibhai Mohanbhai Bavaliya by over 2.46 lakh votes.
