Ruling party won 22 of 28 bypolls in Punjab since 1995: ahead of voting in Ludhiana West, a look at the results over the years

One more bypoll is likely to take place in Banga constituency where the SAD MLA had switched to the AAP in March last year. Earlier, seven bypolls were held between 2017 and 2022 during the Congress government’s tenure, and before that five bypolls took place during the SAD-BJP government’s term from 1997 to 2002.

1992–1997
No. of bypolls: 1

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) boycotted the 1992 Assembly elections amid a rise in militancy. This enabled the Congress to form the government by winning 87 seats, with Beant Singh becoming the chief minister. In 1995, a bypoll was held in Gidderbaha constituency after sitting Congress MLA Raghbir Singh was convicted in a case. Manpreet Singh Badal won the bypoll and went on to become the lone Akali MLA in the Assembly.

1997–2002
No. of bypolls: 5

Parkash Singh Badal became the SAD president in 1996 and allied with the BJP that year. The 1997 Assembly elections were won by the SAD-BJP alliance, which secured 95 seats. During its five-year tenure, bypolls were held for five seats, of which the SAD won four: Qila Raipur, Majitha, Sham Chaurasi, and Sunam. The Congress won the other seat, Ludhiana North.

In 1997, Badal contested from two seats – Lambi and Qila Raipur – and won both. He retained Lambi and in the bypolls, SAD’s Jagdish Singh Garcha won from Qila Raipur in the Ludhiana district.

The bypolls in Majitha, Sham Chaurasi, and Sunam were necessitated by the deaths of SAD MLAs Raj Majitha, and Arjan Singh Josh, and Congress legislator Bhagwan Das Arora, respectively. SAD candidates won all three seats: Raj Mohinder (Majitha), Mohinder Kaur (Sham Chaurasi), and Parminder Singh Dhindsa (Sunam).

In Ludhiana North constituency, Rakesh Pandey of the Congress won the Assembly polls. However, the election was annulled because two candidates had submitted nomination papers for the BJP. As a result, the papers of one candidate, Sunil Mehra, were rejected, leading him to file a court case. A bypoll was conducted in which Pandey won again.

2002-2007
No. of bypolls: 3

Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress government was formed in 2002 after the party won 62 seats. During this tenure, three bypolls took place, all of which the party won.

In Ajnala constituency, the SAD’s Rattan Singh Ajnala triumphed in 2002. However, in 2004, he won the Lok Sabha polls from Tarn Taran, and in the Assembly bypoll, Congress’s Harpartap Singh Ajnala emerged victorious.

In 2002, Ashwini Kumar Sharma of the BJP won the Garhshankar Assembly seat. However, in 2004, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Gurdaspur and won, necessitating an Assembly bypoll in Garhshankar which was won by Lov Kumar Goldy of the Congress.

Meanwhile the Kapurthala Assembly seat became vacant after Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. His sister-in-law Sukhwinder Kaur then won the Assembly bypoll from Kapurthala.

2007–2012
No. of bypolls: 1

In 2007, the SAD-BJP alliance came to power by winning 67 seats, with Parkash Badal serving as the chief minister. In August 2009, his son Sukhbir Singh Badal contested the Jalalabad bypoll after the sitting SAD MLA Sher Singh Ghubaya vacated the seat following his win from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat. Sukhbir won the bypoll by over 83,000 votes, marking his entry into state politics.

He was subsequently appointed as the deputy chief minister.

2012–2017
No. of bypolls: 4

The SAD-BJP combine retained power by winning 68 seats and Parkash Badal became the chief minister again. During this tenure, four bypolls were held: two were won by the SAD, one by the BJP, and one by the Congress.

In Dasuya, sitting MLA Amarjeet Singh passed away, triggering bypolls in July 2012, in which the BJP’s Sukhjit Kaur emerged victorious.

In 2012, Congress MLA from Moga, Joginder Pal Jain, defected to the SAD. In the February 2013 bypolls, he won the seat on an SAD ticket.

In March 2014, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, a Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo, also defected to the SAD and won again in the August 2014 bypolls.

The Patiala Urban Assembly seat became vacant in 2014 after Captain Amarinder Singh won the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. In the August 2014 bypolls, his wife Preneet Kaur won the Patiala Urban seat.

2017-2022
No. of bypolls: 7 (including 2 Lok Sabha seats)

In 2017, a Congress government led by Captain Amarinder Singh was formed after the party won 77 seats. During this government’s tenure, there were five Assembly bypolls and two Lok Sabha bypolls. The Congress secured victories in six of these, while the SAD won only one.

After winning the Patiala Urban seat and becoming the chief minister, Amarinder resigned from his Lok Sabha seat in Amritsar. In the subsequent bypoll, Congress candidate Gurjit Singh Aujla emerged victorious.

In October 2019, a bypoll was held following the death of sitting BJP MP Vinod Khanna from Gurdaspur. Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar won this seat.

In May 2018, an Assembly bypoll was conducted in Shahkot after the sitting SAD MLA Ajit Singh Kohar passed away. Congress’s Hardev Singh Laddi won this bye-election.

In October 2019, bypolls were held in the Phagwara, Mukerian, Jalalabad, and Dakha constituencies. Som Parkash, the sitting BJP MLA from Phagwara, had won the Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha seat, leading to the bypoll in Phagwara where in Congress candidate Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal emerged victorious.

Sukhbir Singh Badal, the sitting SAD legislator from Jalalabad, vacated his seat after winning from the Ferozepur Lok Sabha constituency. Congress’s Raminder Singh Awla won the Jalalabad constituency in the subsequent bye-election.

In Mukerian, sitting Congress MLA Rajnish Kumar passed away, following which Indu Bala contested and won the bypoll on a Congress ticket.

The Dakha constituency in Ludhiana was vacated after AAP’s H S Phoolka resigned. In the bye-election that followed, SAD’s Manpreet Singh Ayali won the seat.

From 2022
No. of bypolls so far: 7 (including 2 Lok Sabha seats)

In 2022, the AAP formed the government after winning 92 seats in the 117-member House, with Bhagwant Mann becoming the Chief Minister after winning from Dhuri Assembly constituency. Following the victory, Mann resigned as Sangrur MP. The Sangrur Lok Sabha bye-election took place in June 2022, just two and a half months after the government was formed. However, the AAP faced a rude shock when its candidate Gurmail Singh from Gharachon lost to SAD (Amritsar) candidate Simranjit Singh Mann by over 5,500 votes.

In May 2023, the bye-election for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat was held after sitting Congress MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh passed away. The AAP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku won this seat.

In July last year, following the Lok Sabha elections, the Jalandhar West bypolls took place after AAP MLA Sheetal Angural resigned and joined the BJP. Interestingly, in June last year, Congress’s Charanjit Singh Channi won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat with a lead of over 30,000 votes from Jalandhar West. In July, AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat won the Jalandhar West Assembly constituency by more than 50,000 votes and was later inducted into the Cabinet.

In the November 2024, bypolls were held for Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal (SC), and Dera Baba Nanak Assembly seats in Punjab after sitting MLAs Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Raj Kumar Chabbewal, and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa — were elected to the Lok Sabha. The AAP won three out of the four seats: Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, and Dera Baba Nanak, strengthening its majority in the Assembly. The Congress managed to win Barnala.

Before the bypolls, Gidderbaha, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak were originally won by the Congress in 2022 while Barnala was won by the AAP, but the result was reversed in the bypoll. The BJP and SAD failed to secure any seat. The results reinforced the AAP’s dominance in Punjab while the Congress showed some resilience, and the BJP remained on the margins.

Punjab is now heading for another bypoll in Ludhiana West constituency on Thursday. This poll was necessitated after the untimely demise of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January this year. AAP’s Sanjeev Arora is pitted against Congress’s Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP’s Jiwan Gupta, and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghumman. The result will be declared on June 23.