Former Gujarat AAP president Gopal Italia, who faced a crushing defeat at the hands of BJP's Vinod Moradiya in the 2022 state assembly elections for the Katargam seat, has won the Visavadar Assembly by-election by a margin of 17,554 votes, securing 75,942 votes in total.
The BJP candidate, Kirit Patel, secured 58,388 votes, while Congress candidate Nitin Ranpariya failed to make an impact, receiving only 5,501 votes.
The bypoll in Visavadar was necessitated after sitting AAP MLA Bhupendrabhai Bhayani resigned from his post upon switching parties and joining the BJP.
After Gopal Italia was declared the winner on the Election Commission's website, AAP hailed his victory as a "spectacular comeback in national politics" for former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
AAP workers in Visavadar celebrated Italia's victory by holding a short victory march.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), AAP shared a celebratory video with the caption, "After securing a spectacular win in the Visavadar by-election—in PM Modi's stronghold of Gujarat—Gopal ji celebrates with Aam Aadmi Party workers."
The party added, "By decisively defeating the BJP in Gujarat, the champion of 'politics of work', Arvind Kejriwal ji, makes a spectacular comeback in national politics."
