Why does Cordova/Phonegap append 8 to my Android Version Code?

Question

I am currently working on a Cordova project and had the problem that 8 was appended mysteriously to the versionCode of my project. For example: My original Version code was

Answer 1

After removing versionCode modifications from ./platforms/android/build.gradle, an "8" was still being appended to the versionCode in my APK.

A "cordova clean" was required before the newly generated APK would have the correct versionCode in it.