Punjab: AAP’s Sanjeev Arora in the lead in Ludhiana West bypoll

Aam Aadmi Party candidate was leading his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,076 votes after 13 rounds of counting in Ludhiana n Monday.

Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sanjeev Arora was leading his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,076 votes after the 13th round of counting from the Ludhiana West assembly seat in Punjab on Monday.

The counting of votes for the June 19 bypoll began at 8am on Monday at a centre set up at Khalsa College for Women in Ludhiana. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

After 13 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 33,044 votes and Ashu 22,968.

BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta slipped to the third spot with 18,676 votes and Shiromani Akali Dal nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman was fourth with 7,739 votes.

There are 14 candidates in the fray.

The counting of votes for the June 19 bypoll began at 8am at a centre set up at Khalsa College for Women in Ludhiana.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

A voter turnout of 51.33% was recorded in the bypoll, a sharp drop from the 64% voting registered in the 2022 state assembly elections.