Porbandar, Gujarat Lok Sabha Election 2024: Voting for the 3rd Phase of LS Polls

Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in Gujarat.

Polling for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Porbandar, Gujarat, which began at 7 AM today, has seen a 37.96% voter turnout till 5PM. In 2019, it was 57.14% This year, Porbandar has once again emerged as a pivotal battleground, featuring a high-stakes contest between Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya of the BJP, and prominent state Congress leader Lalit Vasoya.

Porbandar Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 26 parliamentary constituencies in Gujarat state, falling under the General category.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rameshbhai Lavjibhai Dhaduk of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious with a margin of 2,28,128 votes, while the runner-up was Congress leader Lalit Vasoya.

This year, Porbandar has once again emerged as a pivotal battleground, featuring a high-stakes contest between Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya of the BJP, and prominent state Congress leader Lalit Vasoya.

Mandaviya, making his debut in the general elections, enters the fray as the replacement for Ramesh Dhaduk in this crucial constituency. His political journey includes serving as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Palitana in 2002 and subsequently being elected twice to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2012 and 2018.

Also read: Maharashtra Lok Sabha election: Key constituencies and candidates.

Challenging Mandaviya is Lalit Vasoya, a seasoned Congress leader and former MLA from Dhoraji, an Assembly seat near Porbandar.

Unemployment among youth due to lack of industrial growth, fishing cost rise, lack of dredging at fishing harbour, lack of educational institutes or universities and poor health infrastructure are some of the election issues in Porbandar.

Patidars dominate in this seat with nearly 4 lakh voters, followed by 1.7 lakh Koli (Other Backward Castes [OBC]), 1.5 lakh Mer (OBC), 1.35 lakh Dalits, 1.23 lakh Muslims, 1 lakh Ahir and 50,000 Kharva community voters, who are mostly into fishing activity.

While this seat was with the BJP from 1991 till 2009, it was Congress' Patidar leader late Vitthal Radadiya who stopped BJP's victory chariot by winning it in 2009. However, he joined the BJP in 2013 and won the bypoll. He once again became the Member of Parliament from Porbandar in 2014. Following his death in July 2019, Dhaduk won the seat.