New Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party has won the Visavadar Assembly bypoll in Gujarat in its first major electoral outing since losing the Delhi election to the Bharatiya Janata Party in February.
The win means the AAP has re-asserted its hold over a seat it won in the 2022 election, only to see the then-winner, Bhupendra Bhayani, cross to the BJP. The AAP also retained the Ludhiana West seat in Punjab, a state where it is in power.
Meanwhile, the Congress-led United Democratic Front picked up the Nilambur seat in Kerala and West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress is set to retain the Kaliganj seat. The BJP has retained the Kadi seat in Gujarat.
The election was prompted by the resignation of Bhupendra Bhayani, who won this seat in the 2022 election. Then he beat the BJP's Harshadkumar Ribadiya by nearly 7,000 votes.
AAP Defeats BJP In Big Gujarat Bypoll, Congress Scores Kerala SeatAhead of big-ticket elections in Bihar and Bengal later this year - where the BJP will expect a stiffer challenge from the opposition INDIA bloc - the party has won just one of five seats in this round of elections.
Three years ago, Mr Bhayani was one of five AAP leaders to have claimed Assembly berths, a notable achievement for Arvind Kejriwal's party on its electoral debut in the state.
He did not, however, contest this poll. Instead, Kirit Patel was the saffron party's pick to win a seat the BJP has not held since 2007 and was at the centre of the 2015 Patidar agitation.