In a jolt to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it could win only one of the five seats in the high-stakes assembly bypolls across four states, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pulled off a surprise in Gujarat.

In Gujarat, AAP’s former state president Gopal Italia emerged victorious in Visavadar, defeating BJP’s Kirit Patel by over 17,000 votes. The win is notable given the BJP’s dominance in the state and the fact that it hadn’t won the seat since 2007.

Another win for AAP is set to come from Punjab, where its candidate in Ludhiana West, Sanjeev Arora, is leading against Congress’s Bharat Bhushan Ashu. The result is seen as a referendum on AAP’s current standing after recent setbacks in Delhi.

Meanwhile, in Gujarat’s Kadi constituency, the BJP got its solo victory, where Rajendra Chavda won by a margin exceeding 38,000 votes, retaining the party’s grip over Mehsana district.

In Kerala, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) clinched the Nilambur seat with Aryadan Shoukath defeating CPI(M)’s M Swaraj by over 11,000 votes. Nilambur, a Left stronghold within Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, had become a prestige battle for the Congress. The seat was vacated by P V Anvar, who later joined the Trinamool Congress.

In West Bengal’s Kaliganj, TMC candidate Alifa Ahmed gained a significant lead over Congress’s Kabil Uddin Shaaikh. The rural, Muslim-majority seat had fallen vacant after her father, Nasiruddin Ahmed, passed away.