The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appears to be staging a strong comeback in the ongoing Assembly by-elections, with its candidate Gopal Italia taking a significant lead in the Visavadar seat in Gujarat. According to the latest data released by the Election Commission after 17 rounds of counting, Italia is leading over BJP’s Kirit Patel by a margin of 14,404 votes, while Congress candidate Nitin Ranpariya remains in a distant third.

Reacting to the developments, Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj hailed the result as a morale-boosting moment for the party. “This is a massive victory for AAP. Many political analysts had written us off after our setback in Delhi. But today, we are leading in Ludhiana West, and we are also comfortably ahead in our Gujarat stronghold. This is a terrific bounce back and shows that AAP remains relevant in national politics,” he said.

In Punjab's Ludhiana West, AAP’s Sanjeev Arora is maintaining a steady lead over Congress’s Bharat Bhushan Ashu. After 8 rounds of counting, Arora is ahead by 3,558 votes, with BJP’s Jiwan Gupta trailing in third place.

Meanwhile, in West Bengal's Kaliganj, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Alifa Ahmed has widened her lead against BJP’s Ashish Ghosh. After 10 rounds of counting, Ahmed leads by a margin of 26,494 votes, while Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh is trailing far behind.

In another key contest in Kadi, Gujarat, BJP continues to dominate with its candidate Rajendra Chavda holding a commanding lead over Congress’s Ramesh Chavda. After 15 rounds, Rajendra Chavda leads by a massive margin of 34,597 votes, with AAP’s Jagdish Chavda in third.