Gandhinagar: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday named Gopal Italia as its candidate for the Visavadar assembly byelection, even as the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the election schedule for the assembly seat. On March 10, the Gujarat high court cleared the way for the bypoll by disposing of a petition challenging the election of Bhupendra Bhayani from the seat in the 2022 assembly election.
The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district has been lying vacant since Dec 2023 when Bhayani resigned as an MLA and joined the ruling BJP. A petition was filed in the high court by the losing candidate, BJP’s Harshad Ribadiya, challenging Bhayani’s election. Ribadiya withdrew his plea earlier this month.
AAP announced in an X post on Sunday that the party’s national joint secretary Gopal Italia, who was earlier Gujarat unit president, will be the AAP candidate for the Visavadar assembly bypoll. State organisational general secretary Manoj Sorathiya said in a video statement, “The national executive of AAP has finalised the name of Gopal Italia as the candidate for the Visavadar assembly bypoll.”