Ludhiana West Assembly by-election: BJP Fields Jiwan Gupta Against AAP MP Sanjeev Arora

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced Jiwan Gupta as its candidate for the upcoming Ludhiana West Assembly bypolls. Gupta will take on AAP Rajya Sabha MP and industrialist Sanjeev Arora and Congress's Bharat Bhushan Ashu, former minister for state.

On behalf of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghuman is making strides in reconnecting with the electorate at the grassroots level.

The Elections Commission of India (ECI) has already announced bypolls for four states, but all eyes are on Ludhiana West Assembly, assuming that if AAP wins this seat, then party Supremo Arvind Kejriwal may go to Rajya Sabha from the same constituency. However, several party leaders have already junked such rumours.

As per the ECI announcement, polling for Ludhiana West Assembly will be held on June 19, 2025.

The need for this by-election arose from the tragic passing of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January 2025, who fell victim to a gunshot injury. Gogi's death vacated the Ludhiana West seat, which he had won in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. AAP's victory in the last election saw Gogi garnering a substantial vote share, defeating candidates from both INC and BJP. The scheduled timeline for the by-election process has been outlined by the Election Commission of India, starting with the notification date on May 26, 2025, and concluding with the vote counting and result declaration on June 23, 2025.

In the 2022 elections, the dynamics of the Ludhiana West constituency were evident in the results, with AAP's Gurpreet Bassi Gogi securing a significant portion of the vote share. INC's Bharat Bhushan Ashu and BJP's Advocate Bikram Singh Sidhu trailed behind, highlighting the competitive nature of the electoral landscape in this region. As the BJP, INC, AAP, and SAD gear up for the upcoming electoral showdown, the Ludhiana West by-election is poised to be a critical determinant of political influence in the area.