The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) successfully retained the Umreth assembly seat in Anand district, Gujarat, as candidate Harshad Govind Parmar secured a decisive victory in the byelection held on April 23. The counting of votes took place on Monday at BJVM College in Vallabh Vidyanagar, where Parmar emerged victorious by a margin of 30,743 votes.
Detailed Vote Count
According to official figures released after all 23 rounds of counting, Harshad Govind Parmar polled 85,500 votes, while his nearest rival, Congress candidate Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan, received 54,757 votes. The bypoll was necessitated by the untimely demise of Govind Parmar, Harshad Parmar's father, who was the sitting MLA from the constituency.
Voter Turnout and Other Candidates
The Umreth constituency has a total of 245,769 registered voters, of whom 142,877 exercised their franchise. Among the other candidates, independent Mahendra Natvar Parmar secured 786 votes, Maulik Vinu Shah of the Indian National Janata Dal got 773 votes, while independents Jitesh Ghanshyam Sevak and Nirupa Natvarlal Madhu polled 435 and 626 votes, respectively. A total of 2,335 voters opted for the None of the Above (NOTA) option, and 33 votes were declared invalid.
Official Declaration
Election officials formally declared Harshad Govind Parmar as the elected member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly after the completion of counting. The victory reinforces the BJP's stronghold in the region, while the Congress faced a significant setback.
This byelection result is part of the broader election trends across states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry, where counting for assembly elections is underway. The BJP's performance in Umreth is seen as a positive sign for the party ahead of the final results in other states.
