Porbandar (Gujarat) Election 2019: Rameshbhai Dhaduk of BJP locks horns with Lalit Vasoya of Congress

Gandhinagar: Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, voted on 23rd April 2019 in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections 2019. It comes under the Saurashtra region that includes other LS constituencies such as Rajkot, Surendranagar, Kutch and Amreli and is located in the southwestern regions of the state. 

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Radadiya Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai is the incumbent MP from Porbandar. In the previous LS polls, Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai secured 508,437 votes and defeated Congress's Jadeja Kandhalbhai Sarmanbhai who ended up with 240,466 votes.  

This time, Rameshbhai Lavjibhai Dhaduk was BJP's candidate from Porbandar. Vithalbhai Hansrajbhai also won the by-polls from Porbandar in 2013 but is not fielded this time and Lavjibhai Dhaduk secured the ticket from the saffron party. From Congress, Lalit Vasoya locked horns with Dhaduk. Vasoya is Congress's sitting MLA from Dhoraji. 

Porbandar will be a key region for Congress as the party performed exceedingly well in the 2017 assembly polls. In 2017, Congress swept Junagadh, Somnath, Surendranagar, Morbi and Amreli districts, causing a huge disappointment to BJP which dominated the region for 20 years.  

The main reason for BJP's debacle in 2017 was an acute agrarian crisis. Non-payment of farm produce, minimum support price, lack of water due to insufficient rains were some of the major reasons behind farmers' distress. Recently, farmers carried out rallies demanding crop insurance. And more than 60 talukas have been declared scarcity-hit due to lack of rains. 

The Lok Sabha elections 2019 are held in seven phases. Voting for phase 1 was completed on 11th April while the final phase will be held on 19th May. On 23rd May, results of the polls will be announced.