Punjab: AAP picks Mohinder Bhagat, BJP Sheetal Angural for Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll

Jalandhar, June 17

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday announced party’s halqa in-charge Mohinder Bhagat as its candidate for the bypoll to the Jalandhar West (SC) Assembly segment, while the BJP fielded Sheetal Angural from the same segment.

The byelection was necessitated following the resignation of Sheetal Angural as an AAP legislator.

A prominent sports goods manufacturer and former BJP leader, Bhagat joined the AAP in April 2023. He is the son of Chunni Lal Bhagat, who was the minister in the erstwhile SAD-BJP government.

Mohinder Bhagat was considered one of the three urban pillars of the BJP from Jalandhar (Jalandhar North, West, Centre) until his shift to the AAP. He had also unsuccessfully contested from the Jalandhar West seat in 2017. Roping him in for the bypoll, the party aims to garner support of 30,000 Bhagat community voters. The government also intends to celebrate Kabir Jayanti event on July 22 in a big way to woo the community.

In the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls, Angural had won from the Jalandhar West Assembly seat by defeating then-Congress candidate Sushil Rinku.

The bypoll to the Jalandhar West (SC) Assembly segment will be held on July 10 and counting of votes will take place on July 13.