With the Election Commission of India announcing bypolls for the Ludhiana (West) assembly seat on June 19, all eyes will be the on the outcome.
Not only will these polls offer a peek into the popularity of the Bhagwant Singh Mann government, but they might also provide an opportunity for the Aam Aadmi Party in the Rajya Sabha, if its candidate Sanjeev Arora goes on to win.
Arora is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from the state. In event of him winning the bypoll, a vacancy will be created in the state. Speculation is rife that the party could send former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for the same.
Although the party has denied the move, speculations are swirling as to who would then fill that vacancy. For the AAP, Kejriwal in the Rajya Sabha is a promising prospect as it would give the party chief a big platform to air his views.
Kejriwal has been regularly visiting Punjab to inaugurate projects along with CM Mann. Additionally, the party has even installed Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia in charge of party affairs in the state. In event of Kejriwal refusing to go to the Rajya Sabha, could it be Sisodia? The AAP is keeping all such talk under wraps.
The election to the seat was necessitated by the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi.
The ruling AAP, that is still recovering from its recent electoral setbacks in Delhi, is keen to retain the seat. However, given the shifting ground realities and the strong challenge posed by opposition parties, the contest is expected to be anything but straightforward.
Facing Arora will be former Congress minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a two-time MLA from the same seat. The Akali Dal has fielded Parupkar Singh Ghuman, while the BJP has yet to announce its candidate. If the BJP fields its candidate, then it would be a four-cornered contest.
The Opposition parties in this tussle would be keen to defeat the AAP candidate (as it would then reflect on the popularity of the Mann government). Akali Dal is keen to test its organisation after it faced multiple set backs in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, and after its leadership had to undergo religious punishment.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the AAP did not do well in the assembly seats that were held by the party. Instead, BJP and Congress led in all these nine assembly segments as Congress had fielded Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, while the BJP had nominated Ravneet Singh Bittu, the former Congress MP from the seat.
The BJP led in five segments, most of which were urban areas, while Congress led in four. Bittu, who is now the Minister of State for Railways, would carry heft when he comes to campaign in his previous Lok Sabha constituency.
Given that Ludhiana (West) is an urban seat, and especially in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, if the BJP were to field a candidate, it could possibly repeat its 2024 performance. However, the outcome of the polls , which remains to be seen, may have wider ramifications.