Parties are getting ready to choose candidates as the Jalandhar West bypoll notification is released on Friday. Key electoral contest between AAP, BJP, and Congress faces a leadership crisis.
Parties are getting ready to choose candidates as the Jalandhar West bypoll notification is released on Friday. Key electoral contest between AAP, BJP, and Congress faces a leadership crisis.
Only a few weeks after the Lok Sabha elections, the political parties have begun strategizing for the selection of their respective candidates for the crucial electoral contest, with the Jalandhar West (reserved) assembly segment notification to be released on Friday.
The polls will take place on July 10 and the nomination procedure will begin on Friday and go through June 21. July 13 is when the results will be announced.
In the wake of Sheetal Angural, the current AAP MP from Jalandhar West constituency, resigning from his legislative membership and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prior to the Parliamentary elections on March 28, a bypoll was required. On May 30, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan accepted his resignation.
Every party will be fighting for status in this byelection. The BJP will make every effort to win the SC reserved seat, while the current AAP is searching for a worthy contender to hold onto its seat. There are many obstacles in the way of the Congress and AAP choosing candidates, since both parties are dealing with a leadership vacuum in the voter base.
On June 4, the BJP’s Sushil Kumar Rinku lost to Congressman Charanjit Singh Channi in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency by an unprecedented 1.75 lakh votes; nevertheless, the former chief minister only had a narrow lead of 1,557 votes over his opponent in this assembly district.
Both Rinku and Angural, who was leading the AAP from Jalandhar West until their recent defeat in the LS elections, were in charge of the party. Both of them switched to the BJP prior to the Lok Sabha elections. In 2022, Rinku lost the assembly elections to Sheetal Angural, the AAP contender at the time, by a margin of 4,253 votes. Rinku was the Congress MLA for Jalandhar West from 2017 to 22.
Local leaders are met by Bajwa and Channi.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa and recently elected MP Charanjit Singh Channi are camping in Jalandhar, where senior Congress leaders are meeting in detail late on Wednesday night with party workers and six councillors from the constituency.
“We had talks on the candidate’s name, which will be decided upon by the party’s high command. Numerous individuals, including municipal council members, have expressed interest in running for office, but Channi stated following the meeting that tickets will only be awarded based on merit and winnability.
BJP develops a plan
Even the BJP leadership convened to devise a plan for the by-election.
The leaders were not prepared for the Jalandhar West poll, which happened three or four months later than expected. Still, we have a few choices when it comes to choosing a qualified applicant. There is not much time left for the political parties to announce candidates and plan their poll strategy, according to a top BJP official. According to sources within the saffron party, Sunita Rinku, Sushil Rinku’s wife, and Angural are two of the leading candidates.
AAP focuses on its selection
However, AAP leaders and cadre have already received instructions from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to prepare for the polls. It has been reported that Mann discussed the Jalandhar West candidate selection with party leader and Delhi minister Arvind Kejriwal while they were meeting in Tihar Jail. It is understood that among the candidates are Mohinder Bhagat, the AAP’s halqa incharge, who joined the party after severing his links with the BJP, and Robin Sampla, a cousin of prominent BJP politician Vijay Sampla.
With the BSP in coalition, the Shiromani Akali Dal ran in the 2022 assembly elections, but only garnered 4,125 votes.