Gujarat Assembly: BJP's Rajendra Chavda, AAP's Gopal Italia Sworn In As MLAs After Bypoll Wins
Gandhinagar, Jul 16 (PTI) Newly-elected MLAs Rajendra Chavda of the BJP and Gopal Italia of the AAP were administered the oath of office at the Gujarat assembly on Wednesday.
The two had won byelections last month.
Speaker Shankar Chaudhary administered them the oath.
Byelections to two seats in Gujarat were held on June 19 and the results were declared on June 23.
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and other ministers were present at the oath-taking ceremony of Rajendra Chavda who won from the Kadi assembly seat.
Aam Aadmi Party's Gopal Italia, who was elected from Visavadar, was administered the oath by Chaudhary in his office. State AAP president Isudan Gadhvi and state general secretary Manoj Sorathia among other party functionaries were present.
"The Gujarat legislative assembly has been graced by great leaders and revolutionary leaders of the state and country. I consider myself lucky to be given the opportunity to sit in such a House," Italia told mediapersons after his swearing-in.
Minister Rushikesh Patel said the people of Kadi gave a resounding verdict in favour of Chavda who belongs to a Scheduled Caste community, enabling him to win by around 40,000 votes.
"A lot of development has taken place in the Kadi assembly seat. Our MLA Rajendra Chavda will take this forward in the remaining two-and-a-half years," Patel said.
By electing Chavda, voters gave a befitting reply to those levelling accusations against the BJP government, he said.
Visavadar assembly seat in Junagadh district fell vacant in December 2023 after AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling BJP. Kadi seat was lying vacant since February 4 this year following the death of BJP MLA Karsan Solanki.
In the 182-member Gujarat assembly, the party position following the bypoll results is as follows: BJP 162, Congress 12 and AAP 5. While one seat is with the Samajwadi Party, there are two independent MLAs.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
states