Gujarat bypolls: AAP’s Gopal Italia wins Visavadar by over 17,000 votes

Italia, who had lost from Surat’s Katargam in the 2022 Assembly polls, polled 75,942 votes — over 10,000 more than what former AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani secured from Visavadar in 2022. Bhayani had later quit the party and joined the BJP, necessitating the bypoll.

The Congress, which fielded Nitin Ranpariya in Visavadar, finished a distant third with 5,501 votes.

With this result, AAP’s tally in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly returns to five seats, the number it had won in the 2022 elections. The BJP’s strength increases to 161.

In Kadi, BJP candidate Rajendrakumar Chavda won by 39,452 votes, defeating Congress’s Rameshbhai Chavda. AAP’s Jagdishbhai Chavda secured just over 3,000 votes. The Kadi seat had fallen vacant following the death of BJP MLA Karshan Solanki in February this year.

The bypolls were held on June 19, with voter turnout at 57.90% in Kadi and 56.89% in Visavadar.

Reacting to the Visavadar result, former Leader of Opposition and ex-Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani congratulated Italia. In a statement, he said, “In an effort to defeat BJP’s Kirit Patel, Congress voters appear to have voted for AAP.”

The Congress, which had suffered its worst-ever performance in Gujarat in 2022 with just 17 seats, is now down to 12.

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