Intense Battle Unfolds in Ludhiana West Bypoll

The Ludhiana West assembly bypoll in Punjab commenced with the beginning of the vote count at 8 am on Monday. The election was necessitated by the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January, prompting the bypoll on June 19.

A voter turnout of 51.33%, a significant drop from the previous 64% in the 2022 Assembly polls, was recorded. Fourteen candidates contested in this election, with the main political outfits being AAP, Congress, BJP, and Shiromani Akali Dal.

The vote counting was arranged with 14 security-tight rounds at the Khalsa College for Women. AAP's Sanjeev Arora, Congress's Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP's Jiwan Gupta, and SAD's Parupkar Singh Ghuman emerged as the leading candidates in this fiercely contested bypoll.

(With inputs from agencies.)