Dalsukh romps home in Sayajigunj

vadodara: the congress flag fluttered triumphantly over sayajigunj constituency on sunday afternoon as dalsukh prajapati romped home victorious, trouncing bjp''s jitu sukhadia and seemingly scripting the decline of samajwadi party candidate jaspal singh. prajapati won by a convincing margin of 22,544 votes which left his opponents stunned. prajapati polled 77,229 votes while sukhadia managed 54,685 votes.all other candidates - including singh who got a paltry 6,980 votes - had to face the ignominy of having to forfeit their deposits. prajapati had lost the seat two times in a row to singh, who trounced him in 1995 and 1998 with mammoth margins as bjp candidate. the congress camp had sensed victory early and it showed in their jubilant mood since morning. by the 10th round, the writing was on the wall. trucks teeming with party workers were parked outside the polytechnic college, and bands and drums were playing as a part of the celebrations. a mammoth gathering of congressmen wearing tricolour scarves with sonia gandhi''s portrait, waited outside the counting centre to welcome their victorious leader. several congressmen had begun marching with the party flag and youngsters danced on the streets to the beat of ''dhols''. when results were finally declared at around 12.30 pm, congress was ready with its victory procession. the police had to face a harrowing time keeping supporters out of the college premises. while the winner might have been the hero of the day, another congressman who was in the limelight was anuj patel. as party supporters carried patel on their shoulders, it was a victory for the party''s planners who put the responsibility of poll management on patel, a known dalsukh baiter and an aspirant for the congress ticket for the by-elections. jaspal singh, who managed just 6,980 votes, was conspicuous by his absence at the counting centre. he kept trailing since round one and had to forfeit his deposit, a fact that would put a big question mark on his political career. despite trailing, sukhadia stayed on till the fag end of the counting. but his stoicism may not come in handy as he accumulates another electoral loss in his kitty, after losing a lok sabha election and a civic poll. both the bjp and congress here had put up a semblance of a will to fight united. on sunday afternoon, it was the congress which got its act together while bjp''s unity moves remained on paper and the odd election rallies addressed jointly by rival factions. the congress win, that too with a huge margin, will give the party the much-needed oxygen to take on the bjp in the coming assembly polls. and, as jaspal singh, samata party''s yogesh patel and ncp''s jatin modi bow out without even a semblance of a fight, there is another factor that restated itself on sunday -