Gandhinagar, December 23: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Kunvarji Bavalia has won Jasdan assembly bypoll with about 20,000 votes. Bavalia received over 90,000 votes. By-election for Jasdan assembly seat was held on December 20. The main competition was between Congress and the BJP. This time, five times winner Bavalia is contested on the BJP ticket, while, the Congress gave the ticket to Avsar Nakiya. Bavalia is also a one-term MP from Rajkot. He is currently serving as a Cabinet minister in the Vijay Rupani-led Gujarat government. Meanwhile, Congress Candiate Nakiya got over 70,000 votes.

Jasdan assembly seat has been a pocket borough of Bavaliya, a prominent leader of the OBC Koli community. He left the Congress in July this year. He kept on winning the seat even when Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. Jharkhand, Gujarat By-Elections 2018: Assembly Bypolls in Jharkhand's Kolebira and Gujarat's Jasdan Today – Key Facts to Know

In this bypoll, around 1.65 voters cast their votes. Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda, Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani and several BJP state ministers and leaders campaigned in Jasdan ahead of the bypoll. Congress nominee Avsar Nakiya, who was once a protege of Bavalia also hails from the Koli community. The Koli community dominates in 15 to 18 Assembly segments in Saurashtra area of Gujarat.

Meanwhile, a by-election was also held for Jharkhand’s Kolebira constituency. Five candidates are in the fray for the seat. Menon Akka of the Jharkhand Party, BJP's Basant Soreng, Congress' Naman Bixel Kongari, Anil Kandulna and Independent candidate Basant Dungdung are in the contest for the seat. The assembly elections was necessitated after Kolebira MLA Anos Akka was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Manoj Kumar, a teacher by profession.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 23, 2018 10:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).