BJP, SAD candidates in Ludhiana West express confidence as parties await results on June 23.

Ludhiana: Now that the fate of candidates contesting the Ludhiana West bypoll is sealed in the EVMs, all eyes are on June 23, when counting will take place and the constituency will get its new MLA. However, for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the outcome of this bypoll could shape their prospects for the 2027 assembly elections.

On polling day, both parties' candidates — Jiwan Gupta (BJP) and Parupkar Singh Ghumman (SAD) — were seen calm and composed. They even shared smiles and a cup of tea, expressing confidence in the voters of the West constituency.

Still, party leaders are well aware that their future in Punjab politics may hinge on this result. Perhaps this is why they kept urging residents to step out and vote, especially as voter turnout remained low through the day.

The BJP leadership, not just from Punjab but also from Haryana, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh, actively campaigned in support of Jiwan Gupta. Throughout the campaign, they consistently targeted the ruling party over its unfulfilled promises to the people of Punjab.

While the BJP secured a decent vote share in the 2022 assembly and 2024 parliamentary elections, its recent performance in the municipal corporation polls was underwhelming, winning only 2 out of 17 wards in the West constituency.

According to party insiders, the BJP managed to win this assembly seat during the Lok Sabha elections only when their candidate crossed the 45,000-vote mark. The leadership remains hopeful that, this time too, voters — disillusioned with both Congress and AAP — will give the BJP another chance.

The BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta claimed that bypoll results will be in their favour and they will win the elections after results are announced on June 23. He said people would vote with renewed hope for the development of their area. Claiming confidence in the outcome, he added that he was visiting polling booths where party workers were assisting voters in locating their names andkeeping a check on the voting process. Everything, he asserted, was going in their favour.

Meanwhile, for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), questions are being raised over whether the party can repeat the success of past bypolls of 1995, when Manpreet Badal defeated the Congress govt in Gidderbaha, or in 2019, when Manpreet Ayali triumphed in the Dakha bypoll, again against the Congress. Party president Sukhbir Badal camped in the city for over two weeks, holding one-on-one meetings with party workers and voters to galvanize support.

The SAD candidate also showed full confidence and claimed that people will cast vote in his favour, as they have decided to oust the AAP from Punjab, with this bypoll as its beginning.

MSID:: 121955652 413 |