What is "vadodara"

n. A large city in India (formerly Baroda), in the state of Gujarat.

Vadodara ( IPA: /ʋə'ɽod̪əɾa/), which used to be known as Baroda, the Cultural Capital of Gujarat, is the third largest city in the Western Indian State of Gujarat, after Ahmedabad and Surat. It is the administrative headquarters of Vadodara District and is located on the banks of the Vishwamitri river, southeast of Ahmedabad, from the state capital Gandhinagar. The railway line and NH 8 that connect Delhi and Mumbai pass through Vadodara.

Vadodara had a population of almost 2.2 million+ people. The city is the site of the Lakshmi Vilas Palace, the residence of the Maharaja of Baroda and the royal family; and his erstwhile Darbar. It is also the home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara), the largest university in Gujarat. An important industrial, cultural and educational hub of western India, the city houses several institutions of national and regional importance while its major industries include petrochemicals, engineering, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, IT and foreign exchange services amongst others.

Vadodara (formerly Baroda Lok Sabha constituency) is one of the 26 Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian parliament) constituencies in Gujarat, a state in Western India. This constituency covers the entire Vadodara district and first held elections in 1957 as Baroda Lok Sabha constituency in erstwhile Bombay State (present day Gujarat). 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. 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.

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 consort in the highly popular television adaptation of the Hindu religious epic, Ramayan. 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 a MP. 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 was the second highest ever in a Lok Sabha election. However he chose to vacate the seat on the 29th of May to comply with election rules barring a MP from representing two constituencies and instead retained his seat in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. In the subsequent by election, Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt of the BJP was elected and currently represents the constituency as its MP.