AAP fields Gopal Italia for Assembly bypoll in Gujarat’s Visavadar, EC yet to announce date

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Sunday announced Gopal Italia as its candidate for the Visavadar Assembly constituency bypoll in Gujarat. Italia is a senior leader who previously served as the president of Gujarat AAP. National general secretary Sandeep Pathak made the announcement, even though the Election Commission has yet to announce the bypoll date.

The Visavadar constituency, located in the Junagadh district of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, was previously won by AAP candidate Bhupendra Bhayani during the 2022 state Assembly elections. However, in December 2023, Bhayani resigned as an AAP MLA and joined the BJP, leaving the seat vacant.

BJP candidate Harshad Ribadiya, who lost to Bhayani in 2022, initially challenged the election results in a petition filed with the Gujarat High Court. Recently, Ribadiya withdrew this election petition, which has cleared the way for the bypoll in the Visavadar constituency.

The Election Commission conducted bypolls to five out of six Assembly segments that fell vacant after the MLAs winning the seats in December 2022 resigned but decided not to declare a bypoll to the Visavadar seat due to the pending election petition.