A well-known heart surgeon asked a US federal appeals court Wednesday to overturn a decision by his political party to reject his bid to run against Puerto Rico’s incumbent governor. Ivan Gonzalez Cancel sought to challenge Governor Luis Fortuno in a primary earlier this year, but a committee of the New Progressive Party rejected his candidacy. Both Gonzalez Cancel and Fortuno are members of the NPP, which wants the US territory of Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. Gonzalez Cancel, a prominent cardiologist who is credited with performing the first heart transplant surgery in Puerto Rico, lost his appeal in federal court in Puerto Rico. In arguments before the First US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston Wednesday, Gonzalez Cancel’s lawyer, Ruben Nigaglioni, argued that the party did not have a legitimate reason for rejecting his client’s candidacy. ‘‘The party arbitrarily decides who is qualified and who is not . . . that’s the unfairness of it all,’’ Nigaglioni said. (AP)