Gujarat assembly bypolls : AAP wins Visavadar, BJP retains Kadi seat

AAP leader Gopal Italia won the Visavadar seat, while BJP's Rajendra Chavda bagged Kadi seat on Monday, as counting for bypolls to the two constituencies in Gujarat concluded, officials said.

Italia, the former Gujarat president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), defeated his nearest rival, BJP candidate Kirit Patel, in Visavadar seat of Junagadh district by a margin of 17,554 votes.

While Italia received 75,942 votes, Patel got 58,388 votes after the end of total 21 rounds of counting, as per the data shared by the Election Commission.

BJP leaders earlier said they were hoping to break the 18-year jinx in Visavadar, where the party last tasted victory in 2007.

In Kadi seat of Mehsana district, reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates, BJP's Rajendra Chavda emerged victorious by a margin of 39,452 votes over Congress' Ramesh Chavda after the end of all 22 rounds of counting.

While Rajendra Chavda received 99,742 votes, former Congress MLA Ramesh Chavda managed to secure 60,290 votes.

The bypolls, held on June 19, witnessed 57.90 per cent voter turnout in Kadi seat and 56.89 per cent in Visavadar constituency, officials said.

The counting of votes started at 8 am on Monday and ended at around 1.30pm, they said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and AAP fielded their candidates in both the seats.

The Visavadar seat fell vacant in December 2023 after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.

The Congress fielded Nitin Ranpariya from Visavadar.

Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007.

In the last assembly election in 2022, AAP's Bhupendra Bhayani defeated BJP's Harshad Ribadiya, a Congress turncoat and former MLA, by 7,063 votes.

The Kadi constituency was lying vacant since February 4 following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.

In the bypoll, the BJP fielded Rajendra Chavda, while the Congress gave ticket to Ramesh Chavda, who won the seat in 2012 but lost it to BJP's Karsan Solanki in 2017.

Like Visavadar, there was a three-way contest in Kadi also, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP fielding Jagdish Chavda.

In the 182-member Gujarat assembly, the party position following the bypoll results is as follows: BJP 162, Congress 12 and AAP 5. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two are with independents.