A four-cornered electoral battle is in the offing in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat where bypolls will be held on Wednesday, with the AAP, Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal vying to outdo each other in the Dalit stronghold.
The Jalandhar Lok Sabha (reserved) seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary. He suffered a cardiac arrest during the party's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar's Phillaur in January this year.
Prominent among those in the fray are Congress' Karamjit Kaur, the wife of Santokh Chaudhary, ex-MLA Sushil Rinku, who quit the Congress to join the BJP, and Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Dalit Sikh, who quit the Shiromani Akali Dal to join the saffron party.
Punjab's ruling Aam Aadmi Party is hoping to mark its presence in the Lok Sabha by registering victory in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency.
The win is important for the AAP which had faced drubbing in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll, just three months after it came to power in March 2022 with a thumping majority of 92 seats in the 117 assembly segments in Punjab.
The bypoll is also being seen as a test of the one-year performance of the Bhagwant Mann-led government which has been harping on its “achievements”, including free electricity, giving jobs, regularising services of contractual employees, action against corruption and opening of mohalla clinics etc.
The AAP had deputed several ministers as well as MLAs in the Jalandhar parliamentary seat during campaigning.
As prestige is at stake for the Congress also, it is looking to defend its citadel.
Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat is considered to be the traditional stronghold of the Congress which had remained undefeated since 1999.
Punjab Congress leaders Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi led the party campaign.
Stakes are also high for the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal which saw humiliating defeats during the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls. Both the parties were once allies in Punjab. The SAD broke ties with the BJP in 2020 over the now repealed farm laws.
Punjab has 31.9 per cent scheduled caste population, the highest among all states. Most of the SC population is concentrated in the Doaba region of which Jalandhar is part.
The AAP has fielded former MLA Rinku while the Congress has shown its faith in Kaur. The BJP has fielded Atwal, the son of former Punjab Vidhan Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal who had also joined the BJP.
The SAD has fielded its two-time MLA from Banga seat Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, who is a doctor. The SAD candidate is backed by its ally Bahujan Samaj Party.The Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) has fielded Gurjant Singh.
There are a total 16,21,800 voters comprising 8,44,904 males and 7,76,855 females and 41 transgender in the constituency.
Nineteen candidates, including four women, are in the fray.
Polling will take place from 8 am to 6 pm on Wednesday and the counting of votes will be held on May 13.
There are 1,972 polling stations in the Lok Sabha constituency and there will be a dedicated women-only polling station managed by women. All nine assembly constituencies, which are part of Jalandhar parliamentary seat, would have one each such station.
During campaigning, the AAP sought votes for its work done in the past one year.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while campaigning, asked voters to vote for the AAP for development.
The opposition Congress, BJP and SAD targeted the AAP government over various issues, including alleged deteriorating law and order, corruption and failure to fulfil its poll promises especially giving Rs 1,000 per month to women.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring had said, “People will give a befitting reply to the arrogant and power-smitten leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll”.
The BJP also aggressively campaigned in the bypoll with senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani lashing out at the Congress for the “lack of development” in the constituency and the AAP for “deteriorating” law and order in the state.
SAD chief Sukhbir Badal had said a victory for Sukhi in the bypoll will be a true homage to party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, who died last month.