Campaigning for high-stakes Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll ends; polling on Wednesday

Chandigarh: Campaigning for the high-stakes Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, which will witness a four-cornered electoral contest, came to an end Monday evening.

Major political parties pulled out all stops on the last day of campaigning to woo voters in the constituency, which is a Dalit stronghold.

Leaders of major parties, including the AAP, the Congress, the SAD and the BJP, were reaching out to voters ahead of the May 10 bypoll as campaigning ended at 6 pm.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha (reserved) seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary. He suffered a cardiac arrest during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar's Phillaur in January this year.

There are a total 16,21,800 voters, comprising 8,44,904 males and 7,76,855 females and 41 transgender, in the constituency.

There are a total 19 candidates, including four women, in the fray.

Polling will take place from 8 am to 6 pm on May 10, while the counting of votes will be held on May 13.

Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer Jaspreet Singh has said all requisite arrangements were in place to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election.

The Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll is seen as a litmus test for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, which will be eyeing to wrest the seat from the Congress after it lost the Sangrur Parliamentary by-election last year.

For the Congress also, the prestige is at stake and would like to retain the seat. The Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat is considered to be the traditional stronghold of the Congress and the party has remained undefeated from it since 1999.

Stakes are also high for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which faced humiliating defeats during the 2022 assembly polls. They will also like to register victory from this seat of Punjab's Doaba region.

Punjab has 31.9 per cent scheduled caste (SC) population, the highest among all states. Most of the SC population is concentrated in the Doaba region.

The AAP has fielded former MLA Sushil Rinku, who quit the Congress and joined the ruling party in Punjab.

The Congress has placed its bet on Karamjit Kaur, the wife of late Santokh Chaudhary.

The BJP has fielded Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal to join the saffron party. Atwal is the son of former Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, who had also joined the BJP.

The SAD has fielded its two-time MLA from Banga seat Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi. The SAD candidate is backed by its ally the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) has fielded Gurjant Singh.

During campaigning, the ruling AAP sought votes for its work done in the past one year. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took out road shows while campaigning in favour of party candidate Sushil Rinku.

Kejriwal had said the people voted for the Congress for 60 years and asked the voters to vote for the AAP only for eleven months for development that took place in the state. He said if people did not like the work of his party, then they can vote against the AAP in the 2024 general elections.

Mann listed his government's “achievements”, including free electricity, giving jobs, regularising services of contractual employees, action against corruption and opening of mohalla clinics, etc, during campaigning.

The opposition parties -- Congress, BJP and SAD -- targeted the AAP government over various issues, including alleged deteriorating law and order, alleged corruption and failure to fulfill its poll promises, especially Rs 1,000 per month to women.

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, "People will give a befitting reply to the arrogant and power-smitten leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election." During campaigning, Punjab Congress leaders put up a united face when senior leaders, including Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Charanjit Singh Channi, accompanied the party candidate for filing nomination papers.

The BJP also aggressively campaigned in the bypoll and expressed hope that its candidate will win the seat.

Senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani lashed out at the Congress for the “lack of development” in the constituency and the AAP for “deteriorating” law and order and “false” promises in the state.

The importance of the bypoll for the BJP can be gauged from the fact that several Union ministers, including Hardeep Singh Puri, Jitendra Singh, Smriti Irani, V K Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal, campaigned for the party candidate.

SAD chief Sukhbir Badal had said a victory for Sukhi in the bypoll will be a true homage to Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal who died last month.

Slain singer Sidhu Moosewala's parents also took out a two-day "Insaaf Yatra" in Jalandhar to seek justice for their son.