In October 2011 Bulitavu was charged with sedition for graffiting billboards with anti-government slogans.[1][2] In March 2018 Bulitavu was convicted,[3] and subsequently sentenced to more than two years' jail.[4] The conviction was overturned on appeal, and a retrial ordered in August 2018.[5] The prosecution was discontinued in 2019.[6]
Bulitavu ran in the 2014 elections as a SODELPA candidate, winning 6276 votes, making him the 4th highest-polling SODELPA candidate.[7] He was re-elected in the 2018 election,[8] winning 5342 votes.[9]
On 4 July 2019, Bulitavu made racist statements on his Facebook page that stabbing and killing was something the iTaukei community learned from the 'vulagi', those who were brought in from India.[10] Bulitavu was subsequently condemned by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama[11] and by other members of the SODELPA party,[12] and was subsequently questioned by police over allegations of hate speech.[13][14]
In August 2021, SODELPA sought to have Bulitavu's seat declared vacant for supporting the government budget and the iTaukei Land Trust Act (Bill No. 17).[15][16] The Court of Disputed Returns dismissed the party's case.[17]
In June 2022, Bulitavu announced that he might leave SODELPA for the 2022 general election.[18] SODELPA general secretary Lenaitasi Duru confirmed in October 2022 that Bulitavu was still a SODELPA member, and that he had unsuccessfully sought the party's nomination.[19] On 30 October, Bulitavu was named as part of the FijiFirst candidate list.[20] He won reelection with 631 votes,[9] ranking 25th out of FijiFirst's 26 elected seats.[21] FijiFirst went into opposition after the opposition parties, including SODELPA, formed a coalition government.[22]
