<p>Ahmedabad: Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar Assembly constituency, defeating his closest BJP rival by over 17,000 votes, in the bypolls on Monday. </p><p>The bypoll was necessitated after AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani defected to BJP. Visavadar was one of the five seats that AAP had won in the 2022 Assembly polls. </p><p>The ruling BJP had made the bypolls at this seat a matter of prestige where state's top leaders right from chief minister Bhupendra Patel to BJP president and union Jal Shakti minister C R Paatil had campaigned extensively. </p>.Kerala: Congress wrests Nilambur from CPI(M) after nine years in assembly bypoll.<p>While the result has brought cheers to AAP, which had suffered setbacks after Bhayani's resignation, this is also first election victory for 36-year-old Italia, who is known for his fiery speeches. Italia has had several run-ins with the ruling BJP government for the past many years. </p><p>In the 2022 assembly polls, he lost the election from Katargam Assembly constituency in Surat. </p><p>Italia has served Gujarat police as constable for four years till 2016 and joined a revenue clerk at Ahmedabad collectorate. He was part of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) which led the Patidar agitation for reservation in the state. Hardik Patel, who is now a BJP MLA, was the most prominent face of the agitation.</p><p>In 2017, Italia shot to fame after his telephone conversation with the then Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel went viral where he was heard complaining about the ineffective liquor prohibition law in the state. He was alleged to have impersonated as a policeman in the conversation for which he was arrested by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch.</p><p>He was suspended from service after he hurled a shoe at the then minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja. Eventually, he joined Aam Aadmi Party and became its state president in 2020. Over the years, 36 years old Italia acquired a law degree and practices as a lawyer. </p><p>In 2022, he was detained by Delhi police and was taken to the office of National Commission for Women (NCW), where he was summoned in connection with an old video, in which he purportedly criticized the prime minister Narendra Modi and called him "neech (lowly)".</p><p>He was also booked over his remarks addressing minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi as "drugs Sanghavi" and BJP Gujarat president and union Jal Shakti minister CR Paatil as "ex-bootlegger." He was arrested in the case and was later granted bail.</p>
<p>Ahmedabad: Aam Aadmi Party candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar Assembly constituency, defeating his closest BJP rival by over 17,000 votes, in the bypolls on Monday. </p><p>The bypoll was necessitated after AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani defected to BJP. Visavadar was one of the five seats that AAP had won in the 2022 Assembly polls. </p><p>The ruling BJP had made the bypolls at this seat a matter of prestige where state's top leaders right from chief minister Bhupendra Patel to BJP president and union Jal Shakti minister C R Paatil had campaigned extensively. </p>.Kerala: Congress wrests Nilambur from CPI(M) after nine years in assembly bypoll.<p>While the result has brought cheers to AAP, which had suffered setbacks after Bhayani's resignation, this is also first election victory for 36-year-old Italia, who is known for his fiery speeches. Italia has had several run-ins with the ruling BJP government for the past many years. </p><p>In the 2022 assembly polls, he lost the election from Katargam Assembly constituency in Surat. </p><p>Italia has served Gujarat police as constable for four years till 2016 and joined a revenue clerk at Ahmedabad collectorate. He was part of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) which led the Patidar agitation for reservation in the state. Hardik Patel, who is now a BJP MLA, was the most prominent face of the agitation.</p><p>In 2017, Italia shot to fame after his telephone conversation with the then Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel went viral where he was heard complaining about the ineffective liquor prohibition law in the state. He was alleged to have impersonated as a policeman in the conversation for which he was arrested by the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch.</p><p>He was suspended from service after he hurled a shoe at the then minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja. Eventually, he joined Aam Aadmi Party and became its state president in 2020. Over the years, 36 years old Italia acquired a law degree and practices as a lawyer. </p><p>In 2022, he was detained by Delhi police and was taken to the office of National Commission for Women (NCW), where he was summoned in connection with an old video, in which he purportedly criticized the prime minister Narendra Modi and called him "neech (lowly)".</p><p>He was also booked over his remarks addressing minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi as "drugs Sanghavi" and BJP Gujarat president and union Jal Shakti minister CR Paatil as "ex-bootlegger." He was arrested in the case and was later granted bail.</p>