With 5 bypolls, Punjab heads into another electoral battle
The MLAs, who emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha election results declared on Tuesday, include cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal. The resignation of Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, who had switched to the BJP from the AAP two months ago, has been accepted by Punjab assembly speaker.
With four sitting MLAs, including a cabinet minister, winning the Lok Sabha elections, Punjab will see bypolls to five assembly constituencies.
The MLAs, who emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha election results declared on Tuesday, include cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal. Hayer, a two-time AAP MLA from Barnala, has won the Sangrur seat, while Warring and Randhawa, Congress MLAs from Gidderbaha and Dera Baba Nanak, won in Ludhiana and Gurdaspur, respectively. All three are expected to tender their resignations from the state assembly within the next few days.
The fourth winner, Chabbewal, who was elected from the Hoshiarpur parliamentary seat, had already sent his resignation after he switched from the Congress to the AAP three months ago. On Monday, Punjab assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan accepted the resignation of Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, who had switched to the BJP from the AAP two months ago. The elections to these five assembly seats – two each in Malwa and Doaba and one in Majha, are mandated to be held within six months after they are declared vacant.
The ruling AAP and Congress had fielded a total of 12 sitting MLAs in these parliamentary elections. Of these, the AAP fielded nine, including cabinet ministers Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Amritsar, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, Gurmeet Singh Khudian from Bathinda, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur and Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala, Muktsar MLA Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar from Ferozepur, Batala MLA Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi from Gurdaspur, and Ludhiana Central MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi from the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency. All, except for Hayer and Chabbewal, lost.
The Congress also had Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira in its line-up, besides Warring and Randhawa. Khaira lost to Hayer in Sangrur. Punjab watchers had viewed this proclivity to push sitting legislators into the electoral battlefield as an “unprecedented phenomenon” since never before have so many incumbent legislators contested the parliamentary elections together.