Ludhiana, June 23 (PTI) In the Punjab bypoll for the Ludhiana West assembly seat, AAP's candidate Sanjeev Arora is currently leading with a margin of 2,286 votes over his closest competitor, Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress party. The Election Commission website reports that after completing six out of 14 counting rounds, Arora has secured 14,486 votes, while Ashu has garnered 12,200 votes.
Despite Arora's overall lead, it is noteworthy that Ashu led in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds of counting. BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta reclaimed third place with 10,703 votes after temporarily surpassing Ashu. The Shiromani Akali Dal candidate, Parupkar Singh Ghuman, stood fourth with 3,283 votes.
Overall, there were 14 candidates in the electoral battle. The counting process commenced at 8:00 AM at a center established at Khalsa College for Women. This bypoll was called in response to the unfortunate demise of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.
The by-election witnessed a voter turnout of 51.33%, a significant decline from the 64% turnout recorded in the 2022 state elections.
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