Prepare for Jalandhar bypoll, Punjab CM Mann asks AAP leaders

Chandigarh, June 11 (PTI) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday asked the AAP leaders to get ready for the bypoll to the Jalandhar West assembly segment and work hard for ensuring the party’s victory.

The bypoll to the Jalandhar West (SC) assembly segment will be held on July 10. The by-election was necessitated following the resignation of Sheetal Angural as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator.

Mann asked the AAP leaders of Jalandhar to prepare for the by-election and work hard at the grassroots level to ensure the party’s victory.

The chief minister held a meeting with the AAP leaders of Ludhiana and Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituencies.

The AAP leaders discussed the Lok Sabha elections and other issues of both constituencies.

AAP's Ludhiana candidate Ashok Prashar and party nominee from Jalandhar Pawan Kumar Tinu were also present. Both Prashar and Tinu lost the elections.

During the meeting, Mann asked the party leaders and MLAs to pay special attention to the development works of their area and the problems of the people.

Meanwhile, party candidate from Jalandhar Tinu said despite putting in best efforts in the Lok Sabha bypoll, the result was not in the party's favour from Jalandhar.

Speaking to reporters, Tinu said Congress candidate and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who won the election from Jalandhar, was a big face.

"Therefore, people voted for him," he said, adding that wherever there were shortcomings, they would be removed.

AAP's Ludhiana candidate Prashar said the Ram Temple issue raised by the BJP had affected his party's prospects in Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha polls.

After the Lok Sabha polls outcome, Mann has been meeting the party leaders to take feedback from them.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress dealt a blow to the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP and SAD, winning seven of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the high-stakes polls in Punjab even as two independents registered a surprise victory.

The AAP clinched three seats -- Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur -- in the Lok Sabha polls. Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could win only one seat and the BJP drew a blank in the border state. PTI CHS AS AS