Since March 2022, when the Aam Aadmi Party stormed to power with a brute majority of 92 in the 117-strong Vidhan Sabha, Punjab has witnessed six Assembly bypolls, of which the ruling party won five. In three of these, the AAP had fielded turncoats and other two other, a loyalist and its own Rajya Sabha MP.
With stage now set for a seventh Assembly bypoll — in Tarn Taran on November 11 — the AAP is once again banking on the tried-and-tested formula of fielding a turncoat. It has granted ticket to former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harmeet Singh Sandhu, who had thrice in the past represented Tarn Taran in the Vidhan Sabha.
Earlier, Punjab saw Assembly bypolls in Ludhiana West, Jalandhar West, Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal (SC) and Dera Baba Nanak. Barring Barnala, it won all. It also contested Sangrur and Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypolls in the same period. While its candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku won in Jalandhar; Sangrur, a seat vacated by Chief Minister Bhageant Mann who had won from two constituencies, fell into the SAD (Amritsar) basket.
Be it promising badlav (change) in Jalandhar West or a cabinet berth to its candidate in Gidderbaha, the AAP has never pulled back on promises to win the bypolls, which it then showcases as mandate for “a popular government”.
While fielding Sandhu, Mann promised a double pace of development if Tarn Taran elected the AAP candidate. He said, “Sandhu is an honest man and a popular choice in the area. You elect Sandhu to the Assembly and we will double the pace of development work in the region.” Political experts have pointed to similarities between Mann’s promise and the BJP’s oft-repeated pitch of ‘double engine government’ — that it would be easier to accelerate deveolopment with a saffron party government both in the state as well as the Centre.
In Jalandhar West, a seat vacated by AAP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku, the party had fielded Mohinder Bhagat, 66, a BJP turncoat. Bhagat secured a decisive victory of 37,325 votes over Sheetal Angural, an AAP turncoat fielded by the BJP. Bhagat remained ahead throughout all 13 rounds of vote counting.
As promised by Mann ahead of the bypoll, Bhagat was inducted into the Cabinet and was assigned Defence Services Welfare, Freedom Fighters, and Horticulture portfolios.
In Gidderbaha, where a bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of state Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring following his election to the Lok Sabha, AAP had fielded Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, barely two weeks after he joined the ruling party having remained a loyal soldier of the Shiromani Akali Dal for over four decades.
His candidature had led to heartburn in AAP with Pritpal Sharma, the party leader who had unsuccessfully contested Gidderbaha in 2017, resigning and switching over to the BJP.
AAP’s bet yielded results when Dhillon defeated Warring’s wife and Congress candidate Amrita Warring by 21,969 votes, a record margin for the constituency. Former finance minister and BJP candidate Manpreet Singh Badal could get only 12,227 votes and lost his security deposit.
Earlier, Dimpy Dhillon had unsuccessfully contested the Gidderbaha Assembly seat on SAD ticket in 2017 and 2022. In 2022, he had lost to Warring by 1,349 votes, and in 2017 by 16,000 votes.
In Chabbewal, an Assembly bypoll was necessitated following Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal’s election to the Lok Sabha. A Congress veteran, Chabbewal had jumped ship to the AAP, was fielded from the Hoshiarpur constituency and elected.
Much to the dismay of party workers, Chabbewal’s son Ishank Kumar Chabbewal was given the AAP ticket for the Vidhan Sabha bypoll. He, however, defeated his nearest rival, Congress’s Ranjit Kumar, by a margin of 28,690 votes. For Ishank, 31, a radiologist like his father, it was his first electoral battle.
AAP, however, fought the Ludhiana West and Dera Baba Nanak bypolls on a different formula, both of which also yielded positive results. In Ludhiana West, it fielded Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora. Here too, the AAP seemed to have gauged the emotions of an industrial town right and placed its bet on a businessman.
In Dera Baba Nanak, the party fielded Gurdeep Singh Randhawa who defeated Congress’ Jatinder Kaur by a margin of 5,699 votes.
Fielding Cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer’s confidante Harinder Singh Dhaliwal, however, didn’t fare well for the AAP and it lost Barnala to Congress’ Kuldeep Singh Dhillon.
With Tarn Taran bypoll almost a month away, the AAP is once again testing the waters with its turncoat formula. A panthic seat in the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, Tarn Taran was won by Akali Dal’s Prem Singh Lalpura in 1997. Subsequently, Harmeet Sandhu represented the seat for three terms — as an Independent in 2002 and twice on SAD ticket in 2007 and 2012. In 2017, voter dissatisfaction with the then SAD-BJP government paved the way for Congress’s Dharambir Agnihotri to capture the seat. In 2022, however, the seat went to AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal amid an AAP wave that swept the state.
While Punjab AAP in-charge Manish Sisodia was not available for a comment, Warring said, “We are the only party with secular credentials and giving a new face for the bypolls.”
AAP’s tryst with turncoats
Congress’s Laljit Singh Bhullar and Gurmeet Singh Khuddian joined the AAP in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Both are now cabinet ministers in the Bhagwant Mann government.
AAP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku, 48, remained with Congress for 33 years until his expulsion over “anti-party activities” last year until jumping boats. He later switched over to the BJP.
AAP’s Ashok Prashar Pappi, who unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana, was also an ex-Congressman. He has served as the former general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.
Harmeet Singh Sandhu (second from left) represented Tarn Taran thrice in the past. (Express Photo) 
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