Ludhiana West bypoll on June 19; AAP aims to retain seat, Ashu eyes return

The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. Barring the BJP, other political parties have already announced their candidates, and campaigning has been underway for a while now.

AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member and local industrialist Sanjeev Arora, 61, from the seat. Even before the formal announcement of the bypoll, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and C hief Minister Bhagwant Mann had started camping in Ludhiana to campaign for Arora, who is contesting for the the first. Arora was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the AAP and it is being speculated that his victory may pave for nomination of Kejriwal to the Upper House of the Partliament.

For AAP, the seat is going to be anything but a cakewalk. In last year’s Lok Sabha polls, AAP failed to lead from any of the nine Assembly segments and AAP candidate Ashok Prashar Pappi had finished third. BJP’s Ravneet Bittu had led from Ludhiana West, while the seat was won by Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Similarly, AAP failed to secure a majority in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation elections independently and was able to install its Mayor only after councillors from other parties were roped in.

Speaking to reporters in Ludhiana, Arora said, “I was campaigning when I came to know about the announcement of the polling date… We are fully ready”.

On the opposition’s charge that it will be a demotion for him by contesting an Assembly election, Arora asked his rivals to see the political history of the country and said that many Union cabinet ministers in the past had contested the MLA elections.

On allegations that he generally stayed in Delhi, Arora, who also runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust, said he was born and brought up in Ludhiana and has his house there.

The Congress has fielded former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is two-time (2012 and 2017) MLA from this seat. Ashu was defeated by Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Assembly polls.

Asserting that he was “ready,” Ashu, in a statement, said was waiting for the date of the “final battle” which has now been announced. The Congress, he said, will give its best in this battle.

“The final arbiters are the people of the Ludhiana West. We leave our case with the Janta Janardan with all humility. People of Ludhiana have tried and tested everyone and is in the best position to make the right choice this time,” said Ashu, also a working president of the Punjab Congress.

Earlier, Ashu had claimed that his electoral fight was not against the AAP candidate, but party supremo Kejriwal, who was allegedly fighting for his own entry to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

The Shiromani Akali Dal has nominated Parupkar Singh Ghuman, a lawyer, for the bypoll. He is known for taking up cases pro bono for underprivileged people. In the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections, SAD’s Maheshinder Singh Grewal had polled only 10,072 votes.

The BJP, sources said, is likely to finalise its candidate very soon.

“Over 25 aspirants have shown interest in contesting the bypoll. The enthusiasm is high. People are disillusioned with the AAP, and there is a strong sentiment to vote them out. We are hopeful that the candidate will be announced soon,” said Anil Sarin, party general secretary.

Sources within the party said among the frontrunners for the ticket is Bikram Singh Sidhu. He contested as the BJP candidate from the seat in 2022 and had finished third, securing 28,107 votes. Other names being discussed include that of Anil Sarin himself, who hails from Ludhiana, and Rashi Aggarwal, a former Congress councillor who recently joined the BJP. Additionally, sources revealed that the party is also considering fielding an industrialist.

Meanwhile, to ensure transparency and credibility, the ECI will use updated electoral rolls published on May 5, based on the qualifying date of April 1. Continuous updation will continue until 10 days before the nomination deadline. All polling stations will be equipped with electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs).

The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) has come into immediate effect in the constituency. Candidates with criminal antecedents are required to publicly disclose their records via newspapers, television, and social media.

To streamline nominations, the ECI has also directed that “no dues certificates” be issued to candidates who have occupied government accommodation in the past ten years.