Victory seen as major boost for AAP ahead of 2027 Punjab polls; Congress infighting, divided opposition help Sanjeev Arora secure seat.
Ludhiana: In a significant political win ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday registered a strong victory in the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll, with candidate Sanjeev Arora defeating Congress’ Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes.
Arora polled 35,179 votes of the 90,160 total votes cast, while Ashu secured 24,542 votes. BJP’s Jiwan Gupta and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghuman managed 20,323 and 8,203 votes respectively.
The bypoll, held on June 19, was necessitated by the untimely death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi in January. Gogi, a former Congress leader who joined AAP before the 2022 elections, had previously defeated Ashu by 7,512 votes—now bettered by Arora’s 10,637-vote margin.
While AAP won convincingly, the division of opposition votes among the Congress, BJP, and SAD significantly contributed to the result. The three parties collectively secured over 62% of the vote share, while AAP garnered around 39%.
Despite anti-incumbency sentiment and a weak performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where AAP managed just 20% vote share in this segment, the ruling party rebounded strongly in the bypoll. It not only retained the seat but also improved its 2022 vote share of 34%.
Congress faced internal disunity, with State President Raja Warring absent from campaigning due to differences with Ashu. Other senior leaders, including Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and District President Sanjeev Talwar, also remained disengaged.
BJP’s Jiwan Gupta, despite being declared late, made a notable impact with over 20,000 votes. SAD’s Ghuman too registered a respectable tally of 8,203 votes, indicating potential for resurgence.
