Five BJP leaders including four Congress turncoats on Tuesday took oath as members of Gujarat Assembly, taking the tally of BJP in the assembly to 161, the highest ever in state's electoral history. These five MLAs including veteran ex Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia had won the recently held bypolls.

MLAs Arjun Modhwadia, CJ Chavda, Arvind Ladani, Chiragkumar Patel and Dharmendrasinh Vaghela took the oath.

Vaghela was an independent MLA from Vaghodia seat, while the remaining four had won on Congress ticket in the 2022 assembly polls by defeating their closest BJP rivals.

    They resigned as legislators between December 2023 and March 2024 and subsequently, joined the BJP, necessitating the by-election in the Porbandar, Vijapur, Manavadar and Khambhat assembly constituencies.