AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West Assembly by-election by a margin of 10,637 votes, defeating his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu, on Monday, according to the Election Commission of India.
Arora received 35,179 votes in total, and Ashu got 24,542. BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta was in third place with 20,323 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman was fourth with 8,203 votes.
Ludhiana West bypoll: What necessitated the bypoll?
The bypoll, necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. A voter turnout of 51.33 per cent was recorded in the bypoll, a sharp drop from the 64 per cent voting registered in the 2022 state polls. There were 14 candidates in the fray for the bypoll.
The June 19 bypoll has been regarded as a litmus test for the ruling AAP as it seeks to maintain its hold over Punjab, while the Congress looks to regain its foothold over the urban constituency which it held six times in the past. While the main contest is between the AAP and Congress, the bypoll outcome will also shed light on how the BJP performs among urban voters in Punjab.
Key candidates
The Aam Aadmi Party fielded Sanjeev Arora (61), a Rajya Sabha member and Ludhiana-based industrialist who is also known for his social welfare work, for the bypoll. On the other hand, the opposition Congress placed its bet on former minister and Punjab Congress working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu (51). The BJP had fielded senior leader Jiwan Gupta, a member of the core committee of the party's Punjab unit, while the SAD named Parupkar Singh Ghuman, a lawyer and the former president of Ludhiana Bar Association, as its candidate.
Notably, in the 117-member Punjab assembly, the AAP has 94 legislators, the Congress has 16 MLAs, the Shiromani Akali Dal has three, the BJP two, and the Bahujan Samaj Party one. One seat is held by an Independent.
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