AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat high court has disposed of a petition filed by BJP candidate Harshad Ribadiya challenging Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Bhupendra Bhayani’s victory from the Visavadar constituency in the December 2022 general assembly elections.
The disposal of the election petition has paved the way for a bypoll in the Visavadar seat, which has remained vacant since December 2023, when the elected MLA, Bhayani, resigned and joined the BJP.
Since then, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has conducted bypolls twice in Gujarat—on five seats (Khambhat, Vijapur, Waghodia, Porbandar, and Manavadar) on May 7, 2024, and in the Vav assembly constituency on November 13, 2024.
On both occasions, elections were not announced for Visavadar due to the pending election petition filed by Ribadiya.
On Monday, Ribadiya’s advocate, C.B. Upadhyaya, submitted a purshish (written request) for the withdrawal of the election petition. Following this, Justice H.D. Suthar disposed of the case.
The court order states: “He (the lawyer) has submitted that the candidate, Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai Bhayani, who was declared the returned candidate in the result of the 87-Visavadar Legislative Assembly Constituency, had already tendered his resignation before the competent authority on December 13, 2023. Therefore, he seeks permission to withdraw the present election petition challenging the impugned result of the 87-Visavadar Legislative Assembly Constituency, as it has become infructuous.”
In October last year, an AAP worker from Visavadar, Kailashbhai Savaliya, had unsuccessfully filed a PIL seeking directions for the ECI to conduct a bye-election for the Visavadar seat. The PIL was dismissed with directions to expedite the hearing of Ribadiya’s election petition.