In Ludhiana West, AAP faces uphill battle as Kejriwal hits Punjab ground after Delhi rout

Stung by its debacle in Delhi, the party quickly announced Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the bypoll even though its schedule is yet to be announced by the Election Commission (EC).

Lauding Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s renewed drive against drugs at a “lok milni (public meeting)” in Ludhiana’s Jawahar Camp area, Kejriwal said it was just a “trailer” and that the “film is yet to come”. “Massive action will be taken against drug smugglers, who were earlier being harboured by political parties. The Akalis, Congress and BJP finished Punjab in 70 years. It is not possible to clean the garbage accumulated over seven decades in three years, but we are on the job with a broom (AAP’s election symbol) in our hands,” he said.

For the AAP, the bypoll – which was necessitated after its sitting MLA Gurpreet Gogi “accidentally” shot himself dead in January – is being seen as a face-saver following the Delhi polls, which saw bigwigs including Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Saurabh Bhardwaj lose their seats.

However, the naming of Arora as the AAP’s bypoll candidate triggered speculation about Kejriwal entering the Rajya Sabha in his place. While Arora has denied it, Delhi BJP minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa claimed the people of Punjab will reject both the AAP leaders (Kejriwal and Arora). “I urge the people of Ludhiana to vote for anyone but Arora,” he said.

Even as Arora has got down to work, and has promised “Europe-like roads” and “power-cut free summers” to the people of Ludhiana, the party’s recent performances in this urban seat indicate a difficult road ahead.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, in the Ludhiana seat AAP candidate Ashok Parashar Pappi finished a distant third behind the Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and the BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu. The AAP also failed to secure a majority in any of the nine Assembly segments falling under this seat, with the BJP securing a lead in the five urban segments, including Ludhiana West, and the Congress winning four segments, including two rural ones.

In the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls in December last year too, the AAP managed to win only 41 of the 95 wards, falling short of the majority mark by seven while the Congress and BJP won 30 and 18 seats respectively. Adding salt to the party’s injury, the wives of AAP MLAs Pappi and Gogi also faced defeat in these polls.

The AAP’s fortunes have been on a downward spiral in Punjab since it swept the state in 2022, winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats. In 2022, it first lost in the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, CM Mann’s home turf, in the bypoll necessitated by Mann’s resignation. Last December, the AAP also lost the Barnala Assembly bypoll.

What could make the Ludhiana West contest tougher for the AAP is the likely entry of the Congress’s former minister and two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu into the fray. After the AAP assumed power, Bhushan was arrested in connection with the alleged foodgrain scam. He spent almost two years in jail before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in December 2024, quashed the FIRs against him, terming them “pure vendetta”.

Ashu minced no words in targeting Kejriwal, claiming that the AAP chief was “forced to hit the ground for the by-election to be announced due to the identity crisis that Arora faces”. “He (Kejriwal) has to spend months introducing Arora to the people. The AAP knows it is at its lowest following the Lok Sabha and municipal poll debacles… Ludhiana West has intellectual voters, from rich businessmen to highly qualified doctors and academics. People here are not fools who will get swayed by another drama that Kejriwal is playing out,” he alleged.

The BJP, which is seen to have a significant support base in the urban Ludhiana West seat, said it will announce its candidate “at the right time”. “The election is not yet announced and Kejriwal has landed here for another drama. He should just answer one question. Why was his own MLA (Gogi) forced to demolish the foundation stone of a project initiated by the AAP government? He did so as he was frustrated over his government’s fake promises. They (AAP) are planning to unleash their power and misuse government machinery but we will put a strong candidate to fight them,” the BJP’s Ludhiana district president, Rajnish Dhiman said, referring to Gogi’s criticism of his own government over its failure to clean the polluted Buddha Nullah.