Jalandhar LS bypoll: Candidates of SAD-BSP, BJP, SAD (Amritsar) file nominations

Jalandhar: SAD-BSP candidate Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, BJP's Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) nominee Gurjant Singh filed their nomination papers on Tuesday for the May 10 Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll.

The last date for filing nomination papers is April 20.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)–Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Sukhi appealed to the electorate to teach a “befitting lesson” to the parties which were practising “divisive politics” and asserted the SAD-BSP alliance could alone effect real change in the state.

At the time of filing nomination papers, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema and BSP state president Jasbir Singh Garhi accompanied Sukhi.

Sukhi said Jalandhar had “suffered” during both the earlier Congress and present AAP regimes.

"Both governments have failed to take advantage of central schemes and convert the district hospital into a medical college. The civic infrastructure is at its worst," he said.

Sukhi, who is a two-time MLA from Banga, also took on the AAP government for not keeping its poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 per month to women.

BJP nominee Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal also filed his nomination papers in Jalandhar.  Atwal, who recently joined the BJP after quitting the SAD, was accompanied by Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, Union Minister Som Parkash and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) leader Parminder Singh Dhindsa.

Later, addressing a gathering, Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma alleged that the AAP government has completely “failed” in the state as he targeted the Bhagwant Mann dispensation over the law and order issue.

“There is an atmosphere of fear in Punjab. Nobody, be it trader, industrialist, social activist or politician, is feeling safe," he alleged as he referred to the Amritsar incident in which BJP leader Balwinder Gill was shot at by an unidentified assailant on April 16.

Punjab wants peace and harmony, he asserted.

Referring to the excise policy case of Delhi, Sharma said on one side the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) says it is against corruption but when action is taken in Delhi, they call it political vendetta.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal was summoned by the CBI in the excise policy case on April 16.

Sharma further said that it was only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who could put Punjab on the path of progress.

The BJP leader sought votes for the BJP candidate in the Jalandhar bypoll.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring campaigned for the party candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary in various parts of Jalandhar.

He appealed to voters to give a befitting reply to the ruling dispensation for deceiving the people of Punjab with its “false promises and burdening the state exchequer by wasting taxpayers' money for self-promotion”.

The polling for the Jalandhar parliamentary seat will take place on May 10 and the counting will be held on May 13.