Ludhiana West bypoll on June 19
The bypoll to the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab will take place on June 19, the Election Commission announced on Sunday.
The byelections to four other Assembly constituencies — two in Gujarat and one each in Kerala and West Bengal — would also be held on June 19, said the EC, adding that the votes would be counted on June 23.
Besides the Ludhiana West Assembly constituency, other vacant seats include Kadi (SC) and Visavadar in Gujarat, Nilambur in Kerala and Kaliganj in West Bengal. These vacancies have arisen due to the death or resignation of the sitting MLAs.
The Ludhiana West seat had fallen vacant following the death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. Parties have already announced their candidates for the bypoll.
The Aam Aadmi Party has nominated Rajya Sabha member and industrialist Sanjeev Arora as its candidate. The Congress has fielded former Punjab minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which stayed away from the November 2024 bypolls, has picked Parupkar Singh Ghuman, an advocate, as its candidate.
The BJP will announce its candidate in the next few days.
In Gujarat, the bypolls will be held for two constituencies. The Kadi seat fell vacant after the demise of BJP MLA Karsanbhai Punjabhai Solanki. In Visavadar, AAP legislator Bhupatbhai Bhayani resigned and later joined the BJP.
Nilambur in Kerala falls under the Wayanad constituency. The bypoll has been necessitated by the resignation of two-time Left Democratic Front-backed Independent MLA PV Anvar after he fell out with Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
The bypoll will be a litmus test for the newly appointed state Congress chief, Sunny Joseph. For the Congress, the bypoll is an opportunity to wrest back its traditional seat. The party lost Nilambur in 2016 as well as in 2021 to Anvar.
Anvar, who is now in the TMC, has extended support to the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
In West Bengal, the bypoll became necessary following the death of sitting TMC MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed in February.
India