Vadodara: The BJP retained the Umreth assembly seat in Anand district, with Harshad Govind Parmar winning the byelection by a margin of 30,743 votes. Voting was held on April 23, and counting took place on Monday at BJVM College in Vallabh Vidyanagar. The bypoll was necessitated by the demise of Govind Parmar, Harshad Parmar’s father.According to official figures, Parmar secured 85,500 votes, while Congress candidate Bhrugurajsinh Chauhan received 54,757 votes after all 23 rounds of counting. The constituency has 245,769 registered voters, of whom 142,877 voted. Among other candidates, Mahendra Natvar Parmar (independent) secured 786 votes, Maulik Vinu Shah (Indian National Janata Dal) got 773 votes, while independents JiteshGhanshyam Sevak and Nirupa Natvarlal Madhu polled 435 and 626 votes, respectively. A total of 2,335 voters chose NOTA, and 33 votes were declared invalid. Election officials formally declared Parmar the elected MLA after completion of counting.
