Gidderbaha bypoll: AAP, BJP poll agents share a moment amidst political rivalry

Counting of ballots began on Saturday for the bypolls to the four Assembly seats of Punjab that saw 63.91 per cent polling on November 20 with 45 candidates, including three women, in the fray.

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As the counting began on Saturday, an unexpected scene was witnessed as BJP and AAP agents sit together amidst the tension.

AAP candidate Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon's brother Sandeep Singh Sunny Dhillon and BJP candidate Manpreet Singh Badal's counting agents Harjit Singh Neela Mann and Navtej Singh Kaoni were seen sitting together outside the counting centre.

They were all seen keenly waiting for the results.

Till the filing of the story, the Aam Aadmi Party was leading from Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Gidderbaha while the Congress was ahead in Barnala segment in Punjab.

In Chabbewal, the AAP's Ishank Kumar Chabbewal consolidated his position as he was leading with 3026 votes against his nearest rival and Congress candidate Ranjit Kumar after the fifth round of counting. The BJP's Sohan Singh Thandal was in the third spot.

In Gidderbaha, AAP's Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon was leading by over 3,900 votes against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Amrita Warring, the wife of Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, after the two rounds of counting. BJP candidate and former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal was in the third spot.

The four Assembly constituencies -- Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak -- saw high-pitched and aggressive campaigning.

The four seats -- three represented by the Congress and one by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- fell vacant after MLAs from these constituencies were elected in this year's Lok Sabha polls.

From Chabbewal, AAP candidate Ishank Kumar, son of AAP MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal, has been pitted against Congress' Ranjit Kumar and BJP's Sohan Singh Thandal, another Akali Dal turncoat who had won this seat in the 2012 Assembly elections but lost in 2017 and 2022.

The legislative Assembly has a strength of 117 members, of which the ruling party AAP has 90 members, while the Opposition Congress has 13 seats, Shiromani Akali Dal three seats, BJP two, BSP one, and Independent candidates three.