Ludhiana, Jun 23 (PTI) Punjab's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday retained the Ludhiana West assembly seat with its candidate Sanjeev Arora registering a victory in a fierce electoral fight against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes.
Arora (61) secured 35,179 votes while Ashu got 24,542 votes, according to the Election Commission data.
BJP's Jiwan Gupta polled 20,323 votes while Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman received 8,203 votes. Ghuman lost his security deposit.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.
Following AAP's victory, celebrations broke out at the residence of Arora and the party office in Ludhiana. His family members and supporters were ecstatic over the victory in the assembly constituency.
AAP leaders and cabinet ministers distributed sweets and danced to the beats of 'dhol' (drums) over the victory of Arora.
With AAP retaining the seat, its strength in the 117-member Assembly has remained unchanged.
AAP has 94 MLAs in the House while the Congress has 16 MLAs, SAD has three, BJP two and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) one while one seat is held by an Independent.
Following his victory, Arora will now resign from the Rajya Sabha seat, which he has been holding since 2022.
During the poll campaign, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had announced to make Arora a cabinet minister.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while congratulating the people for the party's victory, said this win with a huge lead is a clear indication that the people of the state are "extremely happy" with the government's work.
"We are working day and night with complete honesty and without any discrimination for the progress and prosperity of Punjab," he said.
"We will fulfil every promise made to Punjabis during the byelection on a priority basis. Congratulations to Sanjeev Arora ji. Also, many congratulations to the entire leadership and volunteer team who worked tirelessly day and night for this victory," said Mann in a post on X.
A victory march, led by Punjab AAP president Aman Arora, was taken out by the party workers in Ludhiana.
Arora secured 39.02 per cent of the total 90,160 votes polled for the bypoll while Ashu got 27.22 per cent and Gupta 22.54 per cent votes, according to the ECI data.
SAD nominee Ghuman got just 9.1 per cent of the total votes polled.
According to the results, 793 voters opted for None of the Above (NOTA).
Reacting to his victory, AAP's Arora thanked the voters of the Ludhiana West assembly seat. He also thanked Kejriwal and Punjab CM Mann for his win in the bypoll. "This is the victory of Ludhiana residents," said Arora.
AAP had fielded Arora, who is a Rajya Sabha member and a Ludhiana-based industrialist.
Congress nominee Ashu congratulated Arora for his victory and assured his full support for the development of Ludhiana.
Ashu had lost to AAP's Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 assembly polls. Ashu had been MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017.
There were 14 candidates in the fray.
AAP's senior leader Manish Sisodia said the opposition was calling the Ludhiana byelection a semi-final. "The AAP has won the semi-final, and now, under the leadership of Bhagwant Mann, we will win the final as well. This victory is a triumph of AAP's politics of work," he said.
The opposition parties, however, attacked the AAP government for allegedly "misusing" state machinery in the bypoll.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accepted the people's mandate and said the party will have an introspection over the outcome.
"I acknowledge and appreciate the @INCPunjab workers in Ludhiana West by putting up the best fight against all odds when it was against the entire government machinery. This, after all, was just a by-election.
"Our fight will continue and we will take it to the logical conclusion in 2027. We will also do a serious in-house introspection as we believe we could have done much better," Warring said in a post on X.
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said his party contested with complete unity and the votes received by the party indicate that the people of Punjab are now looking for a solid alternative to AAP and the Congress for the state.
"We thank our voters and accept the people's verdict. These elections are a signal that it is high time for BJP to start its work with full preparation and planning for 2027. At the same time, these elections are a mirror for the AAP government, which fought its entire campaign relying on government machinery but could only secure a victory by a narrow margin," said Jakhar.
Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu, who aggressively campaigned in favour of Jiwan Gupta, said they accept the verdict of the people.
"I also want to thank the voters of Ludhiana West who supported the BJP, and especially our candidate Shri Jiwan Gupta ji, who secured over 20,000 votes in just 14 days of campaigning -- a remarkable achievement," he said.
While AAP may be celebrating its victory, a closer look at the numbers shows that the combined vote share of the opposition far exceeds that of the ruling party, said Bittu, alleging, "This speaks volumes about the growing discontent on the ground."
A voter turnout of 51.33 per cent was recorded in the bypoll, a sharp drop from the 64 per cent voting registered in the 2022 state polls. There were a total of 1.75 lakh eligible voters for the bypoll.