CHANDIGARH: With just two days left for filing nomination papers for the Ludhiana (West) bypolls, the BJP on Friday finally declared its senior party leader Jiwan Gupta as the party’s candidate.
Gupta, a core group member of the saffron party and former state general secretary, will file his nomination on June 2, the last day for submitting papers.
Gupta, who started his political journey with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), hails from Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib district, where he completed his schooling before his family shifted to Ludhiana. He will be contesting his maiden Assembly election.
He has been associated with the BJP for over two decades and rose through the ranks to become state general secretary during the tenure of Ashwani Sharma as Punjab BJP president. He was replaced in 2023 when Sunil Jakhar took over as the chief of the state unit of the party.
Gupta has remained active in the party’s organisational and disciplinary affairs.
The BJP is the last among the major parties to declare its nominee for the seat.
Gupta will take on Congress heavyweight and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and advocate Parupkar Singh Ghumman, who, like Gupta, is also contesting his first election.
In last year’s parliamentary elections, Ravneet Singh Bittu of the BJP had polled the highest number of votes (45,424) from the Ludhiana (West) Assembly segment, which is part of the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, signalling a shift in urban voter sentiment.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, Bikram Singh Sidhu of the saffron party had secured over 28,000 votes and came third, ahead of the Shiromani Akali Dal.
Ashu won the seat twice in 2012 and 2017, but was defeated by AAP’s Gurpreet Singh Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.
The bypoll, scheduled for June 19, was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi in January under mysterious circumstances involving a gunshot injury. Counting of votes will take place on June 23.
