PANAJI: BJP candidate and Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane today retained his Valpoi Assembly seat by defeating his nearest rival by 10,066 votes in a by-election.
The election was held on August 23.
Rane polled 16,167 votes at the end of the third and final round of counting, while Congress' Roy Naik got 6,101 votes.
Independent candidate Rohidas Gaonkar got 316 votes while 454 voters opted for None Of The Above (NOTA) option.
The by-election became necessary after Rane left the Congress and resigned as MLA before joining the ruling party.
He had said he was unhappy that the Congress, despite emerging as the single largest party in the February 2017 elections, failed to form the government in the coastal state.