In the Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll in Punjab on Wednesday, 55% of voters cast ballots, which is a decrease from 67% in the state elections of 2022.
With 15 candidates vying for the state’s only Assembly seat, a multi-cornered battle got underway with polling.
1.72 lakh individuals were eligible to vote in total.
Following Sheetal Angural’s retirement as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) lawmaker, the seat became vacant. Now nominated by the BJP, he is back in the race.
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On July 13, the authorities will count ballots.
The Jalandhar West (reserved) Assembly constituency serves as a center for Dalits in the Doaba region.
The BJP nominated former AAP MLA Angural, while the ruling AAP has put up BJP rebel Mohinder Bhagat as their candidate in Jalandhar west assembly seat.
Bhagat is the son of a three-time BJP MLA from this Assembly constituency who was a Cabinet Minister from 2007 to 2017 before leaving the party to join the AAP in April 2023.
The Congress has nominated Surinder Kaur, a five-time Jalandhar councillor and a former senior deputy mayor.
The party is confident that her social work background will guarantee her victory. Her closeness to the Dera Sachakhand Ballan, a significant Ravidassia communal sect in the area, is well known.
Caste in play at Jalandhar West assembly seat
AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat is a member of the 30,000-strong Kabir Bhagat group, whilst Congress candidate Surinder Kaur is a well-known Dalit leader from the Ravidassia community. On BJP tickets, Bhagat had run unsuccessfully for this seat in the Assembly elections of 2017 and 2022.
The AAP hopes to win over 30,000 Bhagat community voters by fielding Bhagat.
BJP leader Angural is counting on the Sialkotia Ravidassia group, which also contributes a sizable portion of the vote.
