Ahmedabad: The counting of votes for byelections to the Visavadar and Kadi assembly seats in Gujarat was underway on Monday. The bypolls, held on June 19, witnessed 57.90 per cent voter turnout in Kadi seat of Mehsana district and 56.89 per cent in Visavadar constituency located in Junagadh district, officials said.
The counting of votes started at 8 am on Monday morning, they said, adding that postal ballots will be conducted first. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded their candidates in the two seats. The Visavadar seat fell vacant in December 2023 after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP. While the BJP nominated Kirit Patel for the bypoll in Visavadar, the Congress fielded Nitin Ranpariya. AAP’s former Gujarat president Gopal Italia was also in the fray.
Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. Party leaders said they are hopeful of overcoming the 18-year jinx this time. In the last assembly election in 2022, AAP’s Bhupendra Bhayani defeated BJP’s Harshad Ribadiya, a Congress turncoat and former MLA, by 7,063 votes. The Kadi constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, was lying vacant since February 4 following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.
In the bypoll, the BJP fielded Rajendra Chavda, while the Congress gave ticket to Ramesh Chavda, a former MLA. Ramesh Chavda won the seat in 2012, but lost it to BJP’s Karsanbhai Solanki in 2017. Like Visavadar, there is a three-way fight in Kadi also, with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP fielding Jagdish Chavda. In the 182-member Gujarat assembly, the BJP currently has 161 legislators, Congress 12 and AAP four. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, two are with independents.
