CHANDIGARH: The ruling AAP’s victory in the Jalandhar (West) assembly by-election has come as a shot in the arm for Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann after the party’s poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls.AAP’s Mohinder Bhagat won from the SC-reserved seat by a margin of 37,325 votes defeating BJP’s Sheetal Angural, who had resigned as the AAP legislator on March 28, a day after joining the saffron party. Bhagat got 55,246 votes and Angural 17,921. Surinder Kaur of Congress came third with 16,757 votes, followed by Surjeet Kaur of SAD with 1,242 votes.“The landslide victory shows that the people of Punjab are very happy with the work of our government. As per the promise we will make Jalandhar West ‘the best’,” Mann wrote on X. Bhagat had switched to AAP from the BJP last year. He was the BJP candidate in 2022 assembly elections from the same constituency but lost to Angural then. In the LS polls, AAP won only three out of 13 seats against Congress’s seven. It had trailed behind Congress and BJP in the Jalandhar (West) Assembly segment. Experts say the shift in the AAP’s favour is largely due to Mann’s extensive campaign by staying put in Jalandhar. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “People are supporting policies of our government.”Extensive campaignIn the Lok Sabha polls, AAP won only three out of 13 seats against Congress’s seven. It had been trailing behind Congress and BJP in the Jalandhar (West) Assembly segment. Experts say the shift in the AAP’s favour is largely due to CM Bhagwant Mann’s extensive campaign by staying put in Jalandhar.
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