Former Congress leaders Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala, who switched their allegiance and moved to the Bharatiya Janata Party in July, lost their Assembly seats in bye-elections held on Monday.

Thakor lost to Congress candidate Raghubhai M Desai by 3,807 votes in Radhanpur on Thursday while Zala lost Bayad constituency to the Congress’ Jasubhai Patel by a narrow margin of 743 votes. Radhanpur and Bayad were among the 51 Assembly constituencies across the country where bye-polls were held.

Thakor and Zala won their seats in the Assembly elections in 2017, but they resigned on July 5 after cross-voting in Rajya Sabha elections for two seats from the state.

Thakor had quit all posts in the Congress in April after the Thakor Kshatriya Sena, an outfit founded by him, decided to withdraw its support to the party. He had then accused the party leadership of betraying him.

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