Jasdan Assembly by-election results: BJP vs Congress in Gujarat bypoll

The polling on the seat was held on December 20.

Ahmedabad: The counting of votes for Jasdan Assembly bypolls in Gujarat concluded on Sunday. The outcome of Jasdan assembly bypoll is being keenly watched by the Congress and the ruling BJP against the backdrop of the saffron party's debacle in three core Hindi states in recent assembly elections.

The byelection, which was held on December 20, has become a battle of prestige for the ruling party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Here are the highlights:

# BJP candidate Kunvarji Bavalia wins by 19985 votes

# As the round 13 of counting of votes ended, BJP candidate Bavalia leads by 17720 votes

#UPDATE Jasdan assembly by-poll result: BJP candidate Kunvarji Bavalia leading with 17720 votes at the end of round 13 of counting of votes #Gujarat (File pic) pic.twitter.com/khqayjTeju — ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2018

# BJP's Bavalia leading with 11600 votes at the end of round 9 of counting of votes

# BJP candidate Bavalia leading by 10,400 votes at the end of round six of counting of votes

# After the fifth round of counting, BJP is ahead with 7685 votes

# In the fourth round of voting, Bavalia leads with 17819 votes, Congress stands second with 14745 votes

# As the third round of counting is underway, Bavalia is ahead with 13783 votes while Congress' Nakiya is trailing with 11602 votes

# Third round begins. BJP candidate Bavalia is leading by 2700 votes

# BJP candidate Bavalia is 4755 votes ahead while Congress' Nakiya is trailing with 3704 votes

# With over 2000 votes in the second round, Bavalia continues to lead

# After the first round, BJP's Bavalia is ahead by 1001 votes

# More than 5,000 votes have been counted in the first round 

The bypoll is mainly a bipolar contest between Kunvarji Bavalia, a state Cabinet minister of the BJP and influential leader of the Koli community from the area, and Avsar Nakiya of the Congress.

Nakiya, a Rajkot district panchayat member who had once worked closely with Bavalia, a five-time MLA, contested the assembly election for the first time in his life.

The election was necessitated after Bavalia crossed over to the saffron party and resigned as MLA in July.