New Delhi, June 23 (UNI) Buoyed by impressive bypoll victories in Punjab and Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the results reflected a growing public disillusionment with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In today's vote count for the June 19 by-elections involving five seats, AAP’s Gopal Italia clinched the Visavadar assembly seat in Gujarat, while Sanjeev Arora, a sitting Rajya Sabha MP, emerged victorious in Ludhiana West, Punjab, defeating Congress veteran Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
The BJP secured the Kadi seat in Gujarat through Rajendra Chavda, while Congress and the Trinamool Congress won one seat each in Kerala (Nilambur assembly seat) and West Bengal (Kaliganj) respectively.
Celebrations broke out at the AAP headquarters in Delhi as party workers distributed sweets and raised slogans, hailing the victories as a major boost to the party’s national ambitions.
Reacting to the results, Kejriwal wrote in Hindi on social media platform X: “The people of Gujarat are now fed up with the BJP and are seeing hope in the Aam Aadmi Party. In Punjab too, the people have appreciated our work and voted in even larger numbers than in 2022.”
Thanking voters in both states, he added, “Many congratulations and heartfelt thanks to the people of Gujarat and Punjab. The victory margins in both Visavadar and Ludhiana West are nearly double compared to the last election. This is a clear mandate rejecting both Congress and BJP.”
Addressing a press conference in the capital post the declaration of results, the AAP National Convener said, “AAP has won two out of five seats. Congress, BJP, and Trinamool have won one each. I congratulate Sanjeev Arora for Ludhiana West and Gopal Italia for Visavadar. We had earlier won Visavadar in 2022, but after our MLA joined the BJP, this bypoll was necessitated. We’ve now reclaimed the seat with a stronger mandate.”
He added that the results were a sign of public approval for the performance of the AAP-led government in Punjab.
Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj called the results “a big political message.” “The result is a big political message. The BJP was saying that AAP was finished, but I feel that Arvind Kejriwal has made a big comeback. It has bolstered the faith of the common people in the electoral process." UNI AJ SSP