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Jalandhar bypoll win a relief for AAP, Bhagwant Mann

Sushil Kumar Rinku, a former Dalit MLA who joined AAP a month ago from Congress, trounced Congress’ Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary
Last Updated 14 May 2023, 14:24 IST

The Lok Sabha bypoll victory in Jalandhar comes at the right time for the beleaguered AAP, as it not only returns to the Lower House in Parliament but also restores some credibility to the Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab after multiple reverses.

At the same time, the results show that the Congress is still not out of the woods and might have sunk further, as it could not retain a seat that it has been holding for the past 24 years. The seat became vacant after the death of sitting Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January.

Sushil Kumar Rinku, a former Dalit MLA who joined AAP a month ago from Congress, trounced Congress’ Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, the late MP’s widow, by a margin of 58,691 votes in which Akali Dal-BSP and BJP were a distant third and fourth respectively. BJP lost deposit.

Chaudhary died after suffering a heart attack during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in January this year. The result showed the Congress could not take advantage of the Rahul Gandhi-led yatra or convert the sympathy wave it expected by fielding his widow in the seat.

Mann and Kejriwal put their premium in the fight. Mann almost camped in the seat while Kejriwal deputed national General Secretary Sandeep Pathak to steer the campaign. Kejriwal also campaigned in Jalandhar though he gave a skip to Karnataka.

For the AAP, the victory comes at a time the party and its two governments are facing trouble from various fronts. Its two top leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain are in jail, leaving party supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to handle issues on his own without his two aides.

This win also comes at a time the party had fared badly in Karnataka garnering votes even less than what NOTA polled. This comes a month after it was notified as a national party.

The bypoll result is a relief as it retains AAP’s bargaining power in the Opposition bloc, and sends a message that it continues to dominate Punjab politics where it decimated Congress, Akali Dal and BJP.

There were doubts about AAP within months after it won Punjab as it could not retain the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat vacated by Bhagwant Mann who became Chief Minister. The Sangrur bypoll was won by SAD-Amritsar’s Simranjit Singh Mann who defeated AAP.

Questions were raised about AAP’s ability to take the state forward despite its emphatic win as law and order crumbled in the border state. Mann was also facing credibility questions and the latest bypoll was an acid test for him.

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(Published 14 May 2023, 09:58 IST)

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