Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal celebrated the party's impressive performance in the recent bypolls, declaring that the results signal a "semi-final" before the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab and Gujarat in 2027. Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "Out of the five seats contested, AAP has won two — one in Gujarat and one in Ludhiana. I congratulate Sanjeev Arora and Gopal Italia for their victories. Compared to the 2022 elections, we have won with double the margin this time."
He emphasised that AAP's win in Punjab reflects people's satisfaction with the state government. "It clearly shows that the public is happy with our work in Punjab where we are in power. This by-election is just a trailer — the final in 2027 will be a political tsunami," he said. Both Gujarat and Punjab will face assembly elections in 2027. Kejriwal also took aim at the ruling BJP in Gujarat, stating, "Defeating BJP in Gujarat is tough, but today's results prove that the people there are fed up with them. Winds of change are blowing.”
Watch Kejriwal's press conference here
Kejriwal hits out at Congress
Taking a sharp dig at the Congress, Kejriwal alleged that the party has reduced itself to a puppet of the BJP. "Congress is now working solely to ensure the BJP’s victory in state after state. Its top leadership is comfortably sitting in the BJP’s lap," he alleged.
Addressing speculation about his possible entry into the Rajya Sabha, Kejriwal said, "Many times I have been sent to the Rajya Sabha. I want to tell you I am not going to the Rajya Sabha. The political affairs committee of the party will decide whom to nominate." Noatbly, Opposition parties have claimed that party chief Kejriwal would enter the Upper House in Sanjeev Arora's place.
Assembly bypolls 2025
AAP's Gopal Italia on Monday won from Gujarat's Visavadar assembly constituency and his party also retained Punjab's Ludhiana West seat while the Congress-led UDF wrested Nilambur from the ruling LDF in Kerala, according to results of assembly bypolls in four states. The ruling BJP in Gujarat retained the Kadi seat, while the Trinamool Congress was leading in the Kaliganj assembly seat in West Bengal's Nadia district. The bypolls in the five constituencies were held on June 19.
Italia, the former president of the Gujarat unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), defeated his nearest rival, BJP candidate Kirit Patel, in Visavadar seat of Junagadh district by a margin of 17,554 votes, according to data shared by the Election Commission. Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. The seat fell vacant in December 2023 after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.
Punjab's ruling AAP retained the Ludhiana West Assembly seat with its candidate Sanjeev Arora defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes. Arora secured 35,179 votes while Ashu got 24,542 votes, according to the Election Commission data. BJP's Jiwan Gupta polled 20,323 votes while the Shiromani Akali Dal's nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman got 8,203 votes.
(With inputs from PTI)
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