New Delhi : The AAP secured massive victories in bypolls in Punjab’s Ludhiana West and Gujarat’s Visavadar. Meanwhile, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) secured a decisive win in Kerala’s Nilambur. The BJP, despite fielding candidates in all five bypolls, managed to only bag Gujarat’s Kadi.
The Trinamool Congress is on course to retain Kaliganj in West Bengal, which goes to polls next year. The AAP gave its all in the Ludhiana West bypoll, with its top brass – Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Atishi – campaigning extensively for Arora. In fact, Kejriwal personally oversaw the campaign, with Punjab elections less than two years away.
The bypolls tested the political mettle of the BJP and the INDIA bloc, especially in West Bengal and Kerala, where elections are slated for next year. The encouraging performance of the AAP, which has kept a low profile since its loss in the Delhi Assembly polls, will also give it a boost. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which fielded its 2016 candidate Aryadan Shoukath, won the Nilambur seat in Kerala by over 11,000 votes, defeating the ruling Left’s M Swaraj.
What makes it sweeter is the fact that Nilambur has traditionally been a Left stronghold. The contest was seen as a prestige battle for Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The seat falls within her Wayanad constituency, and she had held a roadshow in the region ahead of the June 19 bypolls. The seat was vacated by Left-backed independent legislator PV Anvar after he resigned following his fallout with Vijayan. Anvar, who won the seat by a margin of only 2,700 votes in 2021, joined the Trinamool Congress.
The AAP retained the Ludhiana West seat, with former Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist Sanjeev Arora winning by a margin of over 10,000 votes. The bypoll was being seen as a litmus test for the AAP, which has kept a low profile since its loss in the Delhi Assembly polls. Congress’s Bharat Bhushan Ashu was the runner-up, ahead of BJP’s Jiwan Gupta.
The seat fell vacant after sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi died of a self-inflicted bullet injury in January. The Congress has won the seat six times since its creation in 1977, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has won it twice. The BJP has never won the seat. In a post on X, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said in both the seats, the party won with nearly double the margin compared to the previous elections.
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