Punjab: Bypoll boost for AAP as Arora wins Ludhiana West

AAP’s Sanjeev Arora secured 35,179 votes while Congress candidate Ashu won 24,542 votes followed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jiwan Gupta and Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Parupkar Singh Ghuman getting 20,323 votes and 8,203, respectively

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday retained the Ludhiana West assembly seat, with its candidate and Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora defeating former state minister and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,637 votes.

AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora along with party president Aman Arora during a victory march in Ludhiana on Monday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Arora secured 35,179 votes while Ashu won 24,542 votes followed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Jiwan Gupta and Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Parupkar Singh Ghuman getting 20,323 votes and 8,203, respectively.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of AAP legislator Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January 2025. With this, the ruling AAP has 94 seats in the 117-member assembly, followed by Congress (16) with Shiromani Akali Dal (3), Bharatiya Janata party (2), Bahujan Samaj Party (1) and one Independent.

“I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the residents of Ludhiana West. I promise you that I will fully live up to the trust you have placed in me,” Arora said in a post on X after the results were announced. “On this occasion, I also express my deep gratitude to the national convener of Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal Ji and the honourable chief minister, Bhagwant Mann Ji, who gave me the opportunity to perform this service.”

The bypoll recorded a turnout of 51.33% — a fall from 64.29% in 2022, and far lower than the seat’s highest ever turnout of 69.66% in 2012.

With Arora winning the bypoll, the AAP leader is set to vacate his Rajya Sabha seat. During campaigning, opposition parties alleged that the AAP had fielded Arora for the bypoll, paving the way for party convener Arvind Kejriwal to take his place in the Upper House. The former Delhi chief minister, seeking re-election for the fourth time, had lost from the New Delhi assembly seat in the 2025 assembly elections.

Following Arora’s victory, Kejriwal said the people of Punjab had endorsed AAP’s governance with overwhelming support. “By giving us a huge margin win, people of Punjab have given their stamp of approval on AAP’s work in the state,” he said.

Not going to Rajya Sabha: Kejriwal

Chandigarh/New Delhi Former Delhi chief minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said he would not seek election to the Rajya Sabha after the party’s sitting Upper House member Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West bypoll. “The decision on the candidate will be made by the party’s political affairs committee,” he told reporters in New Delhi following the bypoll results. Arora was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2022, and his successor will serve the remainder of the term, ending April 9, 2028. After losing Delhi to the BJP in February this year, Punjab is the only state where the AAP is currently in power. Arora will have to resign from the Rajya Sabha. After Arora’s name was announced as the AAP candidate for the Ludhiana West, the opposition had been claiming that Kejriwal would enter the Rajya Sabha in Arora’s place. The names of senior leaders of the party -- Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain -- are doing the rounds as probable candidates for Arora’s replacement.