Assembly Bypoll Result: AAP wins 2 seats in Gujarat, Punjab; Cong, TMC bag one each in Kerala, Bengal; BJP gets 1

Assembly Bypoll Result Live: The results of the assembly bypolls for five seats across three states were declared on June 23. Voting for these five seats was held on June 19.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party won two of these seats—one in Gujarat and another in Punjab. The TMC won the seat in West Bengal, while the Congress bagged the seat in Kerala. The BJP also bagged one seat in Gujarat.

The Congress-led UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath has won the Nilambur assembly by-poll in Kerala by 10,928 votes. The poll panel said Shoukath defeated M Swaraj, the candidate of the ruling CPI(M), on Monday.

Shoukath is the son of late Congress stalwart Aryadan Muhammed, while Swaraj is a state secretariat member of the CPI(M).

Shoukath said the outcome was expected. "It was a victory anticipated by the people of Kerala - a major win against the LDF government," he said.

AAP wins one seat in Punjab

Amid the counting of votes underway, Aam Aadmi Party's candidate Sanjeev Arora won Ludhiana West seat in Punjab by 10,637 votes. He defeated Congress' Bharat Bhushan Ashu who secured 24,542 votes. Sanjeev Arora received 35,179 votes.

AAP, BJP won one seat each in Gujarat

Counting for the assembly bypolls held in five constituencies in four states - Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab - began on Monday. Two assembly bypolls were held in Gujarat, one each in Kerala, West Bengal, and Punjab, on June 19.

In Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gopal Italia won from Visavadar seat, Junagadh district. Italia, former party state president, won by a margin of 17,581 votes against BJP’s Kirit Patel, with Congress candidate Nitin Ranpariya in third place.

Visavadar, historically a BJP stronghold under former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, shifted to AAP in 2022, making this a critical battle for AAP to reclaim its foothold.

Kejriwal lauds AAP win

AAP's national convener Arvind Kejriwal  lauded the AAP victory.

 “In February elections, we won Visavadar seat but our MLA left the party and joined the BJP... But today, we have won both the seats (including Ludhiana West) with a double margin. We won Ludhiana West as well, and it shows that people are happy with our work... It is said that it's always the ruling party that wins the by-elections, but in Gujarat it is the BJP which is in power and it has also hold on the administration and machinery; despite that if the people have given us votes and we won by a double margin, it shows that people are fed up with the BJP.”

In Gujarat's Kadi seat, BJP's Rajendra Chavda polled nearly 1 lakh votes to defeat Congress' Ramesh Chavda. BJP candidate received 99,742 votes, the Congress leader got 60,290 in the SC reserved seat.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora was leading with a margin of 2,286 votes against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Ludhiana West assembly seat in Punjab. After six of the 14 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 14,486 votes and Ashu 12,200 votes.

Though Arora maintained the overall lead, Ashu led the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds of counting. The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

TMC wins one seat in West Bengal

Trinamool Congress' candidate Alifa Ahmed won the Kaligunj seat by a margin of 50,049 votes, as she defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate Ashish Ghosh who secured 52,710 votes. Alifa received 1,02,759 votes in the Kaligunj bypolls.

(With agency inputs)