Gujarat by-election: Contest between 6 candidates on Umreth assembly seat, BJP-Congress face to face

Gandhinagar, 10 April. Now the contest has been decided between six candidates in the by-election to be held on Umreth assembly seat of Gujarat. After the last date for withdrawal of nominations is over, the election authorities have released the final list of candidates. According to officials, a total of six candidates are in the fray for this seat after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ends on April 9. These include Bhriguraj Singh Chauhan of Congress, Harshad Parmar of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Maulik Shah of Bharatiya National Janata Dal and three independent candidates – Jitesh Kumar Sewak, Nirupa Madhu and Mahendra Parmar.

Election officials said that all valid nominations have been retained and symbols have been allotted to all the candidates as per the guidelines of the Commission. Voting on this assembly seat located in Anand district will be held on April 23, while the counting of votes will be done on May 4. The notification for the by-election was issued on March 30. Nominations were filed till April 6, they were scrutinized on April 7 and April 9 was the last date for withdrawal of nominations. Umreth seat is one of the 182 seats in the state assembly and is also part of Anand Lok Sabha constituency.

The by-election has been necessitated after the demise of BJP MLA Govind Parmar, who was representing the seat. The elections will be conducted through Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and preparations are being made by the district administration to conduct the voting smoothly. There has traditionally been a contest between BJP and Congress in this region, although changes in electoral trends have also been seen from time to time. With the announcement of the by-election, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force and the Election Commission is taking necessary steps to ensure fair and peaceful voting.