Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll: Counting begins amid tight security arrangements

Jalandhar: Counting of votes began Saturday morning for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll that witnessed a four-corner battle among the BJP, Congress, SAD and the ruling AAP. Counting began at 8 am, officials said. A tight security arrangement has been put in place in and around the counting centres set up at the office of the Director Land Records and Sports College Complex in Kapurthala Road.

Prominent among the 19 candidates in the fray are the AAP's Sushil Rinku, Congress' Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, BJP's Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, and the Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi.

The bypoll, held on May 10, recorded a voter turnout of 54.70 per cent, the officials said. It was well below the 63.04 per cent recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Jalandhar seat had fallen vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

The AAP fielded former MLA Rinku, who joined the party after quitting the Congress, while Atwal moved to the BJP from the SAD. Backed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the SAD fielded Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, its two-time MLA from Banga, whereas the Congress nominated Chaudhary's wife Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary.

The ruling AAP is hoping to mark its presence in the Lok Sabha by registering a victory in the bypoll. A win will be a boost for the party, which had faced a drubbing in the Lok Sabha bypoll in Sangrur, just three months after it stormed to power in Punjab in March 2022.

The bypoll is also being seen as a test of the one-year performance of the Bhagwant Mann-led government, which has been promoting its moves to provide free electricity and jobs to the youths, regularise services of contractual employees, action against corruption and opening mohalla clinics, among others.

The Congress, on the other hand, is looking to retain Jalandhar, a traditional stronghold for the party, which has remained undefeated from the seat since 1999.

The stakes are also high for the Bharatiya Janata Party and the SAD after their defeats in the assembly election. The two parties were allies in Punjab before the SAD broke off ties over the now-repealed farm laws in 2020.