The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded former Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku as its candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll to be held on May 10. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
by-election to Jalandhar Lok Sabha Seat On May 10, the popularity and performance record of the one-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab will be put to test. Just months after coming to power by winning 92 out of 117 seats in the assembly polls, the party is hoping to taste success after the debacle in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll in June last year.
However, the ruling party faces a formidable opponent – the Congress, which has won the seat 14 out of 18 times it has been in the election. The opposition party has also not lost this seat since 1999.
The by-election was necessitated due to the death of 76-year-old Congress MP Santokh Singh Choudhary during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra at Phillaur in Jalandhar in January. The party has declared his wife Karamjit Kaur Chowdhary as its candidate.
Ms Chowdhary filed her nomination papers on Thursday and was accompanied by State Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Waring, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa, former Chief Ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu.
pole plank
AAP is trying to win over voters by highlighting the government’s efforts to root out corruption, illegal mining and ‘mafias’ from the state. The party is also counting its poll promises like providing 300 units of free electricity to every household, opening ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’ and starting prestigious schools to improve education. It also claimed to have done unprecedented work compared to previous state governments led by the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance.
The ruling party had declared former Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku as its candidate. On 6 April, a day after she joined the party in the presence of AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Shri Rinku was a Congress MLA from Jalandhar West and was defeated by AAP’s Sheetal Angural in the 2022 assembly elections. The Congress expelled him on 5 April for allegedly indulging in “anti-party activities”.
under attack
Opposition party on AAP for its alleged misgovernance, breakdown of law and order, rising drug menace, illegal mining, deteriorating economy and failure to fulfill its key poll promises of providing monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to women above 18 years of age They are targeting for survival. , He has also accused the chief minister of being ‘remote-controlled’ by the party leadership in Delhi.
The Akali Dal has fielded Dr. Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, a two-time MLA from Banga constituency in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district and will contest the elections with the support of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The BJP has recently fielded Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, who quit the Akali Dal and joined the party, as its candidate for the bypoll.
The last date for filing nomination papers is April 20. The counting of votes will take place on May 13.