Political ground heats up with candidate announcements for Jalandhar parliamentary by-election

As the nomination filling deadline approaches, political parties have announced their respective candidates for the Jalandhar Parliamentary by-election. The Congress was the first to announce Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, while the Aam Aadmi Party announced Sushil Rinku. Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) - Bahujan Samaj Party alliance announced Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, and Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) announced Gurjant Singh Kattu. The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, son of Former Deputy Speaker Lok Sabha, Charanjit Singh Atwal. The BJP has already opened its Election office in Lajpat Nagar, Jalandhar.

It was a setback for the Congress Party when former MLA Sushil Rinku resigned from Congress and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Subsequently, Surinder Singh Chaudhary, ex-MLA and son of former Punjab Minister Late Ch. Jagjit Singh, also resigned from Congress and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Former Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia and former Deputy Mayor Parvesh Tagri also joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Additionally, about a dozen councillors resigned from their respective parties and joined the Aam Aadmi Party. Sources reveal that the Aam Aadmi Party is eyeing more leaders to join the party, and if successful, they can perform better than expected as the party has six Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab and more than 90 MLAs to campaign for their candidate in the Jalandhar Parliamentary by-poll, which has nine assembly segments.

Congress State President Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and District Congress President and former MLA Rajinder Beri are trying to defuse the alarming situation created by the resignations of Congress leaders. Many Former MLAs and former councillors have already joined other political parties. Former Congress State President and former Local Bodies Minister Punjab Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Jalandhar and met Congress senior leaders, former Punjab Minister Mohinder Singh Kaypee and former Punjab Minister Avtar Henry, to discuss the current political situation regarding the Jalandhar Parliamentary by-poll. It is now up to the Congress Party High Command to decide whether Navjot Singh Sidhu will campaign for the Congress candidate in Jalandhar or not.

Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) President Sukhbir Singh Badal and Bahujan Samaj Party State President Jasvir Singh Garhi will jointly carry out the campaign for the alliance. Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) President Simranjit Singh Mann will also campaign for the party candidate for the Jalandhar Parliamentary by-poll.

This time Bharatiya Janata Party also seems to be in a confident mode and former Uttar Pradesh Minister and BJP Senior Leader Dr. Mohinder Singh has been appointed as the overall Election In-charge of Jalandhar Parliamentary Seat by-election. Apart from him, many party leaders including former Chief Minister Gujarat and In-charge of Punjab Political Affairs Vijay Rupani, National Secretary and Co-In-charge of Punjab BJP Political Affairs Narinder Singh Riana will be campaigning for the party candidate in Jalandhar.