Assembly bypolls: BJP wins Gujarat, Congress bags Kerala, AAP takes Punjab

Counting is underway for the by-elections held on June 19 across five Assembly constituencies in Gujarat, Kerala, Punjab, and West Bengal. The seats contested include Kadi and Visavadar in Gujarat, Nilambur in Kerala, Ludhiana West in Punjab, and Kaliganj in West Bengal.
BJP and AAP split wins in Gujarat
In Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) split the two contested seats.
In Kadi (SC), BJP's Rajendrakumar Daneshwar Chavda won by a commanding margin of 39,452 votes, securing 99,742 votes against Congress candidate Rameshbhai Chavda's 60,290. The seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki in February.
Visavadar saw a win for AAP's Italia Gopal, who defeated BJP's Kirit Patel by 17,554 votes. Gopal received 75,942 votes while Patel garnered 58,388. The seat became vacant after former AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the BJP.
Congress retains Kerala's Nilambur
In Kerala, Congress' Aryadan Shoukath secured a win in Nilambur, defeating CPI(M)'s M Swaraj by a margin of 11,077 votes. Shoukath garnered 77,737 votes while Swaraj received 66,660.
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of PV Anvar, a Left-backed independent MLA who later joined the Trinamool Congress. Anvar had previously won the seat in 2021 by a narrow margin of 2,700 votes.
AAP clinches Ludhiana West in Punjab
In Punjab, AAP's Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West bypoll, defeating Congress' Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,637 votes. Arora received 35,179 votes to Ashu's 24,542.
The seat was vacated following the death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi earlier this year. BJP's Jiwan Gupta secured third place with 20,323 votes, while Shiromani Akali Dal's Parupkar Singh Ghuman managed 8,203.
Since its formation in 1977, Congress has won Ludhiana West six times, while the BJP has never claimed the seat.
TMC ahead in Bengal's Kaliganj
In West Bengal's Kaliganj, Alifa Ahmed of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leads by a margin of 51,334 votes after 19 of 23 rounds of counting. She has secured 91,480 votes so far, ahead of BJP's Ashish Ghosh with 40,146 votes and Congress' Kabil Uddin Shaikh with 26,220.
The bypoll was called following the death of TMC MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed, Alifa Ahmed's father. With a Muslim electorate comprising around 54 per cent, Kaliganj is considered politically significant ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls.

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