The Gujarat High Court has disposed of an election petition filed by BJP leader Harshad Ribadiya challenging the then AAP MLA Bhupendra Bhayani's victory from the Visavadar seat in the 2022 assembly polls, paving the way for its by-election.

The Visavadar seat in Junagadh district has been lying vacant since December 2023 when Bhayani resigned and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Justice Hasmukh Suthar of the high court disposed of the election petition on Monday after BJP's Ribadiya, who was defeated by Bhayani in the 2022 election, withdrew the plea he had filed in February 2023.

A year after winning the election, Bhayani tendered his resignation to assembly speaker Shankar Chaudhary and later joined the saffron party.

The Election Commission had conducted by-elections to five out of six assembly segments that fell vacant after the MLAs winning the seats in December 2022 resigned, but decided not to declare a bypoll to the Visavadar seat due to the pending election petition.

Ribadiya's lawyer withdrew the election petition on the ground that Bhayani had already tendered his resignation before the competent authority on December 13, 2023, making the petition (against him) infructuous.

"In view of the above pursis filed dated March 10, 2025 and affidavit of the petitioner, present Election Petition is disposed of as withdrawn. Connected applications being Election Application Nos.2, 8, 23 and 27 of 2023 also stand disposed of," the court noted in its order.

In October last year, the high court had rejected a public interest litigation (PIL), seeking a direction to the EC to hold a bypoll to the vacant assembly seat of Visavadar.

The court had noted that the by-election to that constituency cannot be held in view of the pendency of a petition filed by a losing candidate against the winning nominee.

A bypoll cannot be held during the pendency of the plea as the petitioner is also contesting his right for being declared a validly-elected candidate in case the victory of the eventual winner is set aside by the election tribunal, the court had then observed.

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