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Jalandhar bypoll to be litmus test for AAP
The by-election in the constituency dominated by the Dalit vote bank will also put to test not only the political parties’ cadre, but their strengths and weaknesses too before the final showdown of 2024 general polls
Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, the date for which was announced Wednesday, will be a litmus test for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), coming at a time when the party is facing flak from the opposition over law and order in the state with the escape of pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh.
The constituency fell vacant after the sitting Congress member of parliament (MP), Santokh Singh Chaudhary, 76, died of a heart attack while taking part in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 14.
The by-election in the constituency dominated by the Dalit vote bank will also put to test not only the political parties’ cadre, but their strengths and weaknesses too before the final showdown of 2024 general polls.
The ruling AAP stares at a major challenge of bouncing back from the party’s defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll in June 2022. AAP’s candidate Gurmel Singh, a protégé of chief minister Bhagwant Mann, lost to Simranjit Singh Mann from Sangrur, the constituency that was represented twice by the CM himself.
Another critical challenge before the AAP is to come up with a solid Dalit face, who could breach into the Congress-dominated political fortress. In 2019, AAP candidate Justice Zora Singh (retd) had polled mere 25,467 votes.
“The party is in talks with senior and established Dalit leaders of other parties, mainly the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), from Jalandhar region, but nothing has been materialised so far. The sitting MLAs, including Sheetal Angural from Jalandhar West and Balkar Singh from Kartarpur constituency, are also seeking tickets for their kin,” said a senior leader.
AAP’s state general secretary Harchand Singh said the party will field the best candidate for this by-election. “The announcement related to the candidate’s name will be made soon as the party high command has received multiple applications,” he added.
Congress takes lead in naming candidate
Going all out to retain its seat, the Congress had announced the name of Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, wife of Santokh Singh Chaudhary, as the party’s candidate from Jalandhar on March 13. She, along with her son Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, has already started campaigning. The mother-son duo can be seen striking emotional chord during its meetings in villages.
The SAD-BSP alliance, too, has not announced any name as discussions are still on whether the Akali Dal should field its candidate or bank upon its coalition partner’s handsome vote bank in the constituency.
In 2019, BSP candidate Balwinder Kumar had polled 2,04,783 votes, while SAD candidate Charanjit Singh Atwal got 3,66,221 votes.
The BJP’s senior leadership, including state president Ashwani Sharma and former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, also gathered feedback before declaring the name of the candidate. “We have received 20 applications from people who want to contest on the BJP symbol. The name will be finalised by the parliamentary board of the party,” Rupani said.
Doaba: A turbulent territory for AAP
Despite its historic performance in the Malwa region in the 2022 assembly elections, the AAP wave had to face stiff competition from the Congress in Doaba. Of total 23 assembly seats in the region, the AAP and the Congress secured victory in 10 segments each, while the SAD, the BSP and the BJP had won one seat each.
Moreover, in the 2022 polls, the Congress had won in five out of nine segments in the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency, while the AAP bagged the remaining seats.
