Hello,

You want:

gap of each icon in category menu (left, right, top and bottom) to have SAME padding. Meaning padding from icon to the left edge needs to be the same as gap from icon to right side where text of each icon is

You write:

gap between menu items and not to make gap bigger for categories menu section

You have got the code as per the issue described.

In order to make an equal gap on both sides of the icon in the category menu, add this code to the Theme Settings > Custom CSS:

.vertical-navigation .item-level-0>a {
    padding: 12px 0;
}

Best Regards