Prestige battle unfolds in Ludhiana West

The June 19 by-election to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat has turned into a prestige contest for the Aam Aadmi Party, BJP, and Congress. The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi.

AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, with both Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann leading a high-decibel campaign. Kejriwal has even promised a ministerial berth for Arora if he wins. Party sources say Arora may resign from Rajya Sabha if elected, paving the way for Kejriwal to enter the Upper House.

For BJP, the seat holds importance for Union Minister Ravneet Bittu, who recently lost the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat to Congress' Amrinder Singh Raja but led by over 14,000 votes in Ludhiana West. BJP's Jiwan Gupta is banking on this trend. Bittu is camped in the constituency, with BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh also joining the campaign.

Congress has fielded former MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who won the seat in 2012 and 2017 before losing in 2022.