2022 Punjab Assembly elections saw a large number of winning candidates with criminal cases declared in their election affidavits and according to election data 58 of 117 winning candidates or nearly 50% had declared criminal cases against themselves.
Out of these 27 winners had declared serious criminal cases.
Among all the winning candidates Sheetal Angural who contested from Jalandhar West (SC) Assembly constituency on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket had the highest number of declared criminal cases at that time and his election affidavit showed nine criminal cases which was the highest among all winning candidates in Punjab in 2022 Assembly elections.
At the time of the election Angural was an AAP candidate and he went on to win Jalandhar West seat by defeating Congress candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku by a margin of 4,253 votes and following his victory he became MLA from Jalandhar West in March 2022.
The election data shows that Angural was one of several winners who had declared criminal cases in their affidavits and while he topped the list with nine cases next highest among winning candidates included Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer of AAP and Manjinder Singh Lalpura of AAP who had declared five criminal cases each at that time.
Apart from politics Angural is a businessman. His election affidavit listed his professional activities as Angural Car Point and Sai Builders both based in Basti Danishmandan, Jalandhar and his educational qualification was declared as 10th pass other than that his political journey has seen multiple party changes over the years as he started his political career with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and before 2022 Punjab Assembly elections he left BJP and joined Aam Aadmi Party.
After joining AAP he was given party ticket from Jalandhar West and hesuccessfully won the seat in 2022 elections and his victory came against Congress leader Sushil Kumar Rinku who was sitting MLA from constituency at the time however, Angural's stay in AAP did not last for full term and in March 2024 ahead of Lok Sabha elections he left the ruling AAP and rejoined BJP. He switched parties on March 27, 2024 and by then former AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku (who too had joined AAP) also joined BJP around same period.
Following his return to BJP Angural submitted his resignation as MLA and the resignation was later accepted by Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on May 30, 2024 and after his resignation was accepted Jalandhar West Assembly seat became vacant and a by-election was announced following which Angural then contested Jalandhar West by-election as BJP candidate in July 2024 however he was defeated by AAP candidate Mohinder Bhagat and with this defeat Angural ceased to be an MLA.
As of now Sheetal Angural is not a sitting MLA. His political career remains notable because he was winning candidate with highest number of declared criminal cases among all victorious candidates in 2022 Punjab Assembly elections and his journey also stands out because he won 2022 election on an AAP ticket after leaving BJP later returned to BJP in 2024 resigned from the Assembly and subsequently lost by-election from the very same constituency.
Note: All figures and candidate details are sourced from "My Neta Ji".
