Punjab Assembly bypolls AAP names all candidates: a dynast, relative of an MP, a turncoat, and a halqa incharge

Chabbewal is the son of AAP MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal, while Dhaliwal is a cousin of Sangrur MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer. Dhillon is a turncoat who joined AAP after leaving Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in August this year, while Randhawa is the party’s constituency incharge from Dera Baba Nanak.

The bypolls to the four Assembly seats were necessitated after MLAs — three of Congress and one of AAP — representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Gidderbaha seat fell vacant after Congress’ Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ludhiana while Chabbewal bypoll was necessitated after Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was a Congress MLA but later joined the AAP, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur.

Barnala seat fell vacant after Hayer was elected to the Lok Sabha. Hayer had won the seat in 2017 and 2022. Dera Baba Nanak seat fell vacant after Congress’ Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was elected to the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur.

Gurdeep Singh Randhawa and Ishank Chabbewal

Harinder Singh Dhaliwal, 35

Constituency: Barnala

He is a cousin of Sangrur MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer. Dhaliwal holds a BTech degree and comes from a farming family in Chhiniwal village, Barnala. It has been reported that Dhaliwal and Meet Hayer attended Baba Gandha Singh Public School in Barnala together until Class 12, after which they both enrolled at Swami Vivekanand Institute of Engineering and Technology in Banur to complete their BTech degree. Both joined the AAP together around a decade ago.

Sources indicated that Dhaliwal has frequently been seen alongside Meet Hayer. Meet Hayer is a two-time AAP MLA, having won from the Barnala constituency in 2017 and 2022. He also won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat in June 2024, which necessitated the bypoll. Before his election to the Lok Sabha, Meet Hayer served as the Punjab Sports Minister. Dhaliwal has been actively campaigning for Meet Hayer’s Lok Sabha elections, and they are often seen together in the constituency. This will be Dhaliwal’s first election.

Dalvir Singh Khangura, also known as Goldy, is a former Congress MLA from the Dhuri constituency who joined the AAP in May this year during the Lok Sabha campaign. Sources indicate that Goldy was vying for the Barnala ticket. Previously, Goldy served as the Sangrur district president for Congress. He left the party after being denied the Lok Sabha ticket for the Sangrur seat.

Meanwhile, Gurdeep Singh Bathh, Barnala district president of the AAP and chairman of the district planning board, indicated that he was unhappy with the decision to promote “dynastic politics.” He stated that Dhaliwal is Meet Hayer’s maternal cousin.

He mentioned that those who felt hurt by this decision would come together to discuss the next steps soon. Bathh spoke to the media shortly after the ticket announcements, stating, “We have requested AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and other senior leaders to reconsider their decision within 24 hours. After that, we will determine our next course of action.”

Meanwhile, Meet Hayer told reporters that he would meet Bathh soon to resolve any differences.

Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, 56

Constituency: Gidderbaha

Dimpy Dhillon joined the AAP on August 28 from the SAD. He comes from the Gidderbaha constituency in the Muktsar district, where he has been announced as the party’s candidate. After serving the SAD for more than four decades, Dhillon, a long-time Akali, made the switch to AAP.

Earlier, he unsuccessfully contested the Gidderbaha polls on an SAD ticket in 2017 and 2022. He is an agriculturist and the owner of Deep Transports, which operates private buses on various routes within Punjab and interstate. He graduated from Panjab University, Chandigarh. In 2022, he lost to the Congress’s Amarinder Singh Raja Warring by a narrow margin of 1,349 votes. In 2022 polls, he had declared 12.65 crores as his total assets.

Dhillon has been announced as a candidate about seven weeks after joining the AAP. He was already active in the area, as Chief Minister Mann had indicated that he would be declared the candidate on the day of his joining.

The local AAP workers were disgruntled when he joined the party, and many did not attend the function where CM Bhagwant Mann welcomed Dhillon into the party. As a result, AAP struggled to find their own candidate and had to depend on a defector.

This seat became vacant after the sitting Congress MLA, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, won from Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha elections. Warring also serves as the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC). In Gidderbaha, Warring’s wife Amrita Warring and the BJP’s Manpreet Singh Badal are the key contenders for the Congress and the BJP, respectively.

Dr Ishank Chabbewal, 31

Constituency: Chabbewal ( SC)

Son of Hoshiarpur MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal and radiologist by profession, Ishank will be contesting his maiden election. Ishank has remained a core committee member of his father’s campaign since 2017 Assembly elections and also part of NGO Koshish floated by his father. Even before the ticket was assigned, Ishank has been active in the area moving around meeting people and addressing public gatherings.

Gurdeep Singh Randhawa, 55

Constituency: Dera Baba Nanak

Gurdeep Singh Randhawa is AAP’s constituency incharge of Dera Baba Nanak. He had unsuccessfully contested 2022 polls from the constituency and was placed third despite a strong AAP wave in Punjab. A class 12 graduate, Randhawa has remained active in the constituency despite the 2022 loss. He is also the senior vice-chairman of Punjab Industry development board.