Vadodara (formerly Baroda Lok Sabha constituency) (
Gujarati: વડોદરા લોકસભા મતવિસ્તાર) is one of the 26
Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) constituencies in
Gujarat, a state in
Western India. This constituency covers 7 out of 10 Vidhan Sabha constituencies of
Vadodara district and first held elections in 1957 as Baroda Lok Sabha constituency in erstwhile
Bombay State (present day Gujarat).[1] It has been known as Vadodara since the 2009 elections. Its first
member of parliament (MP) was
Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad of the
Indian National Congress (INC) who was also re-elected in the next elections in 1962. He was the Maharaja of Baroda of the
Gaekwad dynasty at the time.[2] P. C. Patel of the
Swatantra Party won the election in 1967. From 1971–80, Gaekwad was MP of this constituency again firstly as a member of the
Indian National Congress (Organisation) and then as a member of the INC. His younger brother,
Ranjitsinh Pratapsinh Gaekwad also of the INC represented the constituency from 1980–89 for two terms before being defeated by Prakash Brahmbhatt of the
Janata Dal party in the 1989 election.[3]
In 1991, television actress
Deepika Chikhalia of the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the seat. She was best known at the time for playing
Sita, Hindu god
Rama's wife in the highly popular television adaptation of the Hindu religious epic, Ramayan.[4][5][6] Satyasinh Dilipsinh Gaekwad of the INC won the election in 1996. In all, three members of the Gaekwad royal family have represented this seat as an MP.[3] The constituency has been represented by a member of the BJP since 1998:
Jayaben Thakkar served for three terms from 1998 to 2009 and
Balkrishna Khanderao Shukla served one term from 2009 to 2014. The current prime minister,
Narendra Modi won the seat in the
2014 elections by a victory margin of 570,128 votes, which is one of the highest margins in history of Lok Sabha polls. However he chose to vacate the seat on 29 May to comply with election rules barring an MP from representing two constituencies and instead retained his seat in
Varanasi in
Uttar Pradesh.[7] In the subsequent by election,
Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt of the BJP was elected and currently represents the constituency as its MP.