The announcement of the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election can be done anytime soon by the Election Commission. All the political parties- Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bhartiya Janta Party, and Shiromani Akali Dal have started to choose the best candidates to represent them for the same and are preparing to put the strongest face to contest the upcoming by-election.
BJP is going to solely contest the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-elections for the very first time after 27 years. The last time it contested elections without merging with any other party was in the year 1996 and did not perform well. BJP only gathered 7.9% of the total votes in the 1996 by-elections. Also, BJP holds zero constituencies out of the total 9. BJP lost the 1996 by-elections badly. This time Jalandhar Lok Sabha By-Election is a matter of prestige for the Saffron Party. Also, their main focus is on the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections due to which they have to perform well in this by-election.
The main contenders between which BJP will choose the face for Jalandhar Lok Sabha By-Election are SC Commission Chairman Vijay Sapla and General Secretory Rajesh Bagga. Apart from Sapla and Bagga, Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Avinash Chander and Jalandhar West MLA Mahinder Bhagat are also in the fray.
Why is Jalandhar Lok Sabha By-Election the most significant challenge & ultimate test for AAP?
The sources from Bhartiya Janta Party stated that the party has not come to any decision till now. BJP still thinks that someone better needs to be selected as the contender for Jalandhar Lok Sabha By-Election that can surely make them win. A former SSP is also on BJP’s list. There are also speculations that BJP wants a big leader from Congress to join them and might also contest the upcoming by-election in Jalandhar.
Apart from this, there is also an internal fight going on between various leaders of the BJP and because of this, the party lost the previous year’s Vidhan Sabha election as well. BJP was not able to make a strong hold on any of the seats be it Jalandhar Central, Jalandhar West, or Jalandhar Cantt.