Chandigarh: In a major boost to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after drubbing in recently held Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, its candidate Mohinder Bhagat on Saturday won the Jalandhar West (SC reserved) byelection by a huge margin of over 37,000 votes.
Bhagat, the son of BJP veteran Chunni Lal Bhagat, got over 55,246 votes, BJP’s nominee Sheetal Angural, 17,921 and Congress’ Surinder Kaur got 16,757 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Surjit Kaur – from whom SAD had distanced itself because of her revolt against party leadership – got just 1,242 votes and BSP’s Binder Kumar Lakha, 734 votes.
With this big win, the AAP has retained the seat; The bypoll was necessitated after Angural quitted as AAP MLA ahead of Lok Sabha polls and defected to BJP.
It was a battle of prestige for ruling AAP and chief minister Bhagwant Mann; the party which had come to power in 2022 with a stunning majority of 92 out of total 117 seats, could win only three of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in June general elections.
Leading the AAP campaign from the front, Mann thus went whole hog into the canvassing and even shifted to a rented house in Jalandhar ensuring that all the MLAs, MPs and other leaders remained actively involved in the campaigning for Bhagat. Bhagat had contested unsuccessfully from this segment in 2017 and 2022.
What also apparently worked for Bhagat was primarily Mann’s commitments made for Jalandhar and region – he held more than 24 rallies and held roadshows and said he would stay at Jalandhar for two days a week and run the government from here so that the people of the region did not need to come to Chandigarh; Mann, who targeted AAP’s former MP Sushil Rinku and MLA Angural for leaving AAP and joining BJP, held that he would make Bhagat a Cabinet minister if he won.
The polling on July 10 had 54.98% turnout; Bhagat who consistently maintained a lead in all the 13 rounds of counting polled 58.39% votes, BJP, 18.94%, Congress 17.71% and SAD – 1.31% of votes.
CONGRESS, BJP, SAD RED-FACED
The result came as a major blow to all the opposition parties; In the recent Lok Sabha election, Congress’ nominee Charanjit Singh Channi had won from Jalandhar seat defeating BJP’s Sushil Rinku by over 1.75 lakh votes and had a lead of over 1,500 votes from Jalandhar West segment when AAP’s candidate Pawan Kumar Tinu trailed by a margin of over 15,000 in this segment. Yet Congress’ Surinder Kaur finished a poor third.
Notably, Angural had floored Congress’ then nominee Rinku in 2022 assembly polls. Both – Rinku and Angural had joined BJP ahead of June Lok Sabha elections, yet the BJP fared poorly in this bypoll. Likewise, the result also caused embarrassment to SAD as its candidate Surjit Kaur could secure only 1,242 votes; the SAD had withdrawn its support from her after the date of withdrawal of nomination for her revolt against party leadership though the SAD rebel supported her; the BSP nominee Lakh got just 734 votes.
