Contest Gidderbaha bypoll, Sukhbir Badal urged

Archit Watts

Muktsar, June 7

Gidderbaha may witness an interesting bypoll as SAD workers have started appealing to their party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal to contest the election.

Sukhbir neither contested the recently concluded Lok Sabha election nor could he win the Assembly poll from Jalalabad in 2022. He may fulfil the wish of party workers to boost their morale for the 2027 state elections, say some party insiders.

The seat would officially fall vacant after Amrinder Singh Raja Warring tenders his resignation as an MLA as he has won the Lok Sabha poll from Ludhiana. As per the rules, the election has to be conducted within six months after a seat becomes vacant.

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday started a thanksgiving tour of Bathinda from Badal village.

During a public address, when Sukhbir appealed to party workers to get ready for the Gidderbaha bypoll, they requested him to contest the election. Sukhbir, however, did not reply to the request at the moment. It is speculated that SAD may field a Badal from this constituency. It may face a challenge from Manpreet Singh Badal, who is now a BJP leader and had earlier become active in the constituency. The Congress may field Raja Warring’s wife Amrita, while AAP may field Pritpal Sharma, Jagdeep Singh Sandhu or Sukhjinder Singh Kaoni.