By-polls to 2 Guj seats on Jun 19 as AAP, Cong seek to challenge BJP dominance

The Election Commission of India (ECI)’s announcement of the schedule set the stage for a three-way contest between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress and AAP.

Published on: May 25, 2025, 14:42:31 IST

By Maulik Pathak

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

By-elections to Gujarat’s Visavadar and Kadi assembly seats will be held on June 19 and the results will be announced four days later, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Sunday, setting the stage for a three-way contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The ECI said scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 3 and candidates can withdraw their names until June 5. (X)

A gazette notification for the by-elections will be issued on Monday. The scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 3. The candidates can withdraw their names until June 5.

AAP lawmaker Bhupendra Bhayani’s resignation and defection to the BJP necessitated the by-poll to the Visavadar seat in the Junagadh district. The defection reduced AAP’s strength in the assembly to four, making Visavadar critical to the party’s foothold in the region. The Mehsana district’s Kadi (Scheduled Caste) seat fell vacant following lawmaker Karshanbhai Solanki’s death in February.

The AAP has named former state chief Gopal Italia as its candidate from Visavadar, banking on his advocacy for farmers and anti-corruption activism to regain the seat it won in the 2022 assembly polls.

The BJP has historically dominated Visavadar, particularly during former chief minister Keshubhai Patel’s tenure. It is yet to field a candidate. The BJP is expected to capitalise on Bhayani’s defection to wrest the seat.

The Congress will contest both seats, declining an alliance with its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner AAP.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the INDIA bloc is at the national level, and there is no such alliance for Gujarat.

The Congress on Sunday named Geniben Thakor, its sole Lok Sabha member from Gujarat, Jignesh Mevani, Kirit Patel, and Raghu Desai as in-charges for the Kadi by-poll. Paresh Dhanani, Punjabhai Vansh, Indranil Rajyaguru, and Vasram Sagathiya will be in charge of the Visavadar seat.

An AAP leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they will also field a candidate for Kadi by-polls if the Congress has decided to contest the Visavadar seat.

The BJP hopes to retain its sway in Kadi as the Congress seeks to end the ruling party’s dominance in the reserved constituency.

The BJP swept back to power in Gujarat in 2022, securing 156 of 182 seats, even as AAP emerged as a third major party. The Congress’s seats dropped from 17 to 12 following a series of defections to the BJP.

Geniben Thakor wrested the Banaskantha Lok Sabha seat last year in a boost to the Congress, frustrating the BJP’s target of winning all 26 seats in Gujarat for a third time. The BJP won the Vaav assembly seat after Thakor vacated it.

The BJP currently has 161 in the Gujarat assembly, the Congress 12. The AAP, Samajwadi Party, and Independents have the remaining seats.

The by-polls will test AAP’s resilience, Congress’s revival strategy, and the BJP’s continued dominance in Gujarat ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

Gujarat

Follow India news real-time updates and the latest news covered on Hindustan Times, featuring today's critical updates on Sonam Wangchuk LIVE and more across India.