Ludhiana West bypoll becomes prestige battle for all parties

The Ludhiana West bypoll, to be held on June 19, has become a matter of prestige for all parties and their respective candidates due to high stakes in the seat.

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The fate of the candidate, who will win the seat, will be determined by about 1.74 lakh voters of the constituency. The major parties are making every effort to win over the electorate and well- known personalities are travelling to the city to support and campaign for candidates.

In support of BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta, who is contesting the poll for the first time, Tarun Chugh, BJP general secretary, has come to the city on Friday. Anil Sarin, spokesperson for the BJP, said on June 7, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, national secretary of the BJP, would be visiting the Ludhiana West segment in support of Gupta. While on June 8 and 9, the BJP has roped in Hardeep Puri and Anurag Thakur, respectively, to visit the city and support BJP workers and the candidate and ask for votes for the latter. Though started campaigning much later as compared to candidates of other parties, BJP candidate workers look upbeat and confident.

Since the seat is too important for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as it would pave the way for Arvind Kejriwal in Parliament, big faces in the party would be visiting the city in coming few days. The names include Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Satyendra Jain, Atishi, Raghav Chadha and Sunita Kejriwal.

While supporters of Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Parupkar Singh Ghuman said in the coming week, people would see Bibi Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Majithia visiting the city and reaching out to voters.

“SGPC members and party president Sukhbir Singh Badal are already camping here. Akalis are getting good response,” said Maheshinder Singh Grewal, senior SAD leader.

One of the spokespersons for the Congress, however, claimed that many leading personalities would be visiting the city to campaign for Bharat Bhushan Ashu but since dates were not confirmed it would not be advisable to comment regarding the matter now.

The byelection is certainly not a cakewalk for any one candidate or party as stakes are high for parties and voters have kept their cards close to their chest.