Assembly bypolls: AAP ahead in Punjab, Gujarat's Visavadar, Cong-led UDF in Kerala

New Delhi: The AAP was leading in Punjab's Ludhiana West and in Gujarat's Visavadar, while the Congress-led UDF surged ahead of its rivals in Kerala's Nilambur and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal's Kaliganj on Monday, according to latest trends available for assembly bypolls in four states.

The BJP was ahead in Gujarat's Kadi seat, the trends showed.

The bypolls in five constituencies in four states were held on June 19.

While the deaths of the incumbent MLAs necessitated the bypolls in one seat each in Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab, the resignation of two legislators led to the polling in Kerala and another seat in Gujarat.

The ruling AAP in Punjab was ahead of its rivals with party candidate Sanjeev Arora leading with a margin of 2,286 votes against Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Ludhiana West assembly seat.

After six of the 14 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 14,486 votes and Ashu 12,200 votes.

BJP's Jiwan Gupta returned to the third spot with 10,703 votes after briefly taking over Ashu. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Parupkar Singh Ghuman was fourth with 3,283 votes.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

The AAP is also doing well in Gujarat's Visavadar seat, according to the latest trends.

AAP candidate Gopal Italia took a comfortable lead against rivals in Visavadar seat while the BJP was set to retain Kadi seat as the counting for bypolls to the two constituencies of Gujarat was nearing conclusion.

After the completion of 18 out of the total 21 rounds of counting, AAP's former Gujarat president Italia was leading over his nearest rival in Visavadar by 14,073 votes.

While Italia received 65,295 votes, BJP candidate Kirit Patel was behind him with 51,222 votes after 18 rounds, as per the latest data shared by the Election Commission.

In Kadi seat, reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidates, BJP's Rajendra Chavda was leading by a wide margin of 35,608 votes over Congress' Ramesh Chavda, after the end of 16 out of 21 rounds of counting.

The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district fell vacant in December 2023 after the then AAP legislator Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP.

Despite its near-total dominance in the state, the BJP has not won the Visavadar seat since 2007. Party leaders earlier said they were hopeful of overcoming the 18-year jinx this time.

The AAP, which suffered a setback in the Delhi Assembly polls, is hoping to improve its fortunes in the bypolls.

In Kerala, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government received a setback as the opposition UDF surged ahead in the Nilambur seat.

By the end of the final round of counting, Election Commission figures showed Aryadan Shoukath, the Congress-led UDF candidate, had taken a lead of 11,077 votes over M Swaraj of the ruling CPI(M).

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

Swaraj said the LDF would closely examine the results but rejected suggestions of anti-incumbency against the Left government.

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.

Independent candidate and two-time legislator P V Anvar delivered a strong performance in the Nilambur by-election, surprising both the UDF and the LDF.

The Nilambur seat fell vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Anvar, triggering a fierce political battle in the forest-fringe constituency.

The bypoll is being seen as a mid-term test for the LDF government, now in its fourth year in office.

For the Congress-led UDF, a win here would provide a much-needed boost ahead of the Assembly polls next year.

In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress was leading by over 19,000 votes in the by-election to the Kaliganj assembly seat in Nadia district.

After seven rounds of counting, TMC candidate Alifa Ahamed secured 32,308 votes, while her nearest rival, Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh, backed by the CPI(M), bagged 13,144 votes. BJP nominee Ashis Ghosh was trailing in the third position, securing 11,987 votes, election officials said.

The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of sitting TMC MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February this year. His daughter, Alifa Ahamed, has been fielded by the party to retain the seat.