Help AAP win in Visavadar to give tight slap to BJP: Kejriwal during bypoll campaign

Visavadar, Gujarat: AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asked voters to make his party victorious in the Visavadar assembly bypoll in Gujarat so that the ruling BJP gets a tight slap on its face for poaching legislators.

Visavadar seat fell vacant after Aam Aadmi Party MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned in December 2023 and later joined the BJP.

Bypolls to Visavadar in Junagadh district as well as Kadi in Mehsana district will be held on June 19, while votes will be counted on June 23.

"The BJP could not win here (Visavadar), so what did they do, they broke down our MLA, and he joined BJP. Earlier, they did the same thing with the Congress MLA from Visavadar. Now, make our candidate win with a high number of votes and it will be a tight slap on the BJP's face," Kejriwal told the gathering.

The BJP had won in Gujarat but not in Visavadar, Kejriwal pointed out.

Kejriwal and Atishi, both former chief ministers of Delhi, and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann campaigned for AAP candidate Gopal Italia and also held a roadshow in the presence of the party's state unit president Isudan Gadhavi.

Later, Italia filed his nomination forms, the last date of which is June 2.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have not declared their candidates for the two bypolls.