DHARWAD, June 4: Dharwad district will remain a strong bastion of the Bhartiya Janata Party as it has continued its sway over the Dharwad parliamentary constituency with its candidate and the incumbent MP Pralhad Joshi winning for the fifth consecutive term on Tuesday.
Joshi defeated his nearest rival Vinod Asuti, a young politician from Congress party by over 80,000 votes. Official data is yet to be announced by the Election Commission. However, in 2019, Joshi had registered victory with the margin of 2,05,072 votes over Congress’ Vinay Kulkarni.
Although Joshi was confident of winning the polls, the entry of Fakir Dingaleshwar Swami of Shirahatti Fakireshwar Mutt who announced of contesting as an Independent to defeat Joshi created ripples for a short while. Later, Dingaleshwar seer withdrew his nomination and announced his support to Congress candidate.
BJP supporters have begun the celebrations near Agriculture University, Dharwad.
