Ahmedabad: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday secured a significant win in Gujarat’s Visavadar constituency, while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comfortably retained the Kadi seat as counting concluded for the by-elections to two Assembly constituencies in the state.
AAP leader and former Gujarat unit president Gopal Italia emerged victorious in Visavadar, Junagadh district, defeating BJP’s Kirit Patel by a margin of 17,554 votes. Italia secured 75,942 votes, while Patel polled 58,388 after 21 rounds of counting, according to data released by the Election Commission.
The BJP had hoped to break its 18-year losing streak in Visavadar, having last won the seat in 2007. The constituency was previously held by AAP’s Bhupendra Bhayani, who resigned in December 2023 and joined the BJP. In the 2022 Assembly elections, Bhayani had defeated BJP’s Harshad Ribadiya — a former Congress MLA — by 7,063 votes. The Congress fielded Nitin Ranpariya in the latest bypoll but failed to make a significant impact.
In the Kadi constituency of Mehsana district — a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates — BJP’s Rajendra Chavda won decisively, defeating Congress candidate and former MLA Ramesh Chavda by 39,452 votes. Rajendra Chavda received 99,742 votes, while Ramesh Chavda managed 60,290 after 22 rounds of counting.
The by-election in Kadi was necessitated by the death of sitting BJP MLA Karsan Solanki on February 4. Ramesh Chavda, who had previously won the seat in 2012, lost it to Solanki in 2017. The AAP also contested the seat, fielding Jagdish Chavda, making it a three-way contest similar to Visavadar.
Polling for both seats was held on June 19, with a voter turnout of 57.90 per cent in Kadi and 56.89 per cent in Visavadar. The counting of votes began at 8 am on Monday and concluded around 1.30 pm.
With the bypoll results now in, the composition of the 182-member Gujarat Legislative Assembly stands as follows: BJP holds 162 seats, Congress 12, AAP 5, one seat belongs to the Samajwadi Party, and two are held by independents.
With PTI inputs