In a significant victory for the AAP government in Punjab, its candidate Mohinder Bhagat won the Jalandhar (West) Assembly bypoll with a margin of 37,325 votes. Bhagat defeated BJP candidate Sheetal Angural, who had defected from AAP, prompting the bypoll. The win is seen as a face-saver for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who had campaigned extensively for Bhagat.
Bhagat led from the first round of counting and secured 55,246 votes, while Angural got 17,921 votes. Congress candidate Surinder Kaur finished third with 16,757 votes. The bypoll was on July 10 and saw a total of 15 candidates in the fray.
Also Read: PM Modi To Launch Groundbreaking Borivali-Thane Tunnel Project
The AAP party celebrated the win, with the party writing on X, “The people of Jalandhar (West) have stamped their approval on the development work of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by making AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat victorious by a huge margin.”
Moreover, Bhagat’s win is significant as he is a former BJP member who joined AAP in April 2023. He is the son of a three-time MLA from the BJP and served as a Cabinet Minister from 2007-2017. AAP had fielded Bhagat to woo the 30,000 Bhagat community voters in the constituency.
The Jalandhar West (reserved) Assembly constituency is a hub of Dalits in the Doaba region and witnessed a multi-cornered contest. Chief Minister Mann had campaigned aggressively and promised the minister’s post to Bhagat if he won.
The win is a boost for AAP, which had suffered a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, winning just three seats despite setting an ambitious target of winning all 13 seats. However, AAP improved its 2019 performance by winning a lone seat.
However, with this win, AAP now has 91 members in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, while Congress has 15, Akali Dal three, BJP two, and others two. There are four vacancies in the Assembly after sitting MLAs elect to the Lok Sabha.
