AAP rebel Gurdeep Batth spices up byelection fight in Barnala
With the presence of an Independent candidate, the Barnala Assembly byelection has become a multi-cornered contest.
Gurdeep Singh Batth, who was the Barnala district president of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for more than six years till he was expelled by the party on October 29 this year, is in the contention for the seat. Batth might get sympathy votes for the “injustice” done to him by not fielding him from the constituency. He may dent the AAP prospects here.
As per reports, Batth, along with his supporters, has been campaigning aggressively in the constituency and accusing the AAP leadership of adopting ‘bias’ in the allotment of the party ticket. He claimed that the party ignored his services and allotted the ticket to a friend of Sangrur Lok Sabha MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer.
Harinder Singh Dhaliwal of AAP, Kuldeep Singh Dhillon (Kala Dhillon) of Congress, Kewal Singh Dhillon of BJP and Govind Singh Sandhu of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), a grandson of party president Simranjit Singh Mann, are also in the poll fray.
Was party face in dist for six years
Gurdeep Singh Batth, who was the Barnala district president of AAP for more than six years till he was expelled by the party on October 29 this year, might get sympathy votes for the “injustice” done to him by not fielding him from the constituency
Harinder Singh Dhaliwal of AAP, Kuldeep Singh Dhillon (Kala Dhillon) of Congress, Kewal Singh Dhillon of the BJP and Govind Singh Sandhu of the Shiromani Akali Dal
(Amritsar) are also in the poll fray.
Local holiday in 4 districts on Nov 20
Chandigarh: The state government has declared local holiday for government offices, boards/corporations and government educational institutions situated in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Muktsar and Barnala districts on November 20 due to the byelections in Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Gidderbaha and Barnala.
Dhaliwal, Kala Dhillon and Sandhu are contesting the Assembly election for the first time while Kewal Dhillon has been an MLA twice. He had won on the Congress ticket from Barnala in the 2007 and 2012 elections.
In the last two Assembly elections (2017 and 2022), Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer of AAP was elected from Barnala. Even in the Lok Sabha election held in June this year, Meet Hayer had won from the Sangrur seat.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Sangrur MP Meet Hayer of the AAP, former CM Charanjit Singh Channi and former Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla of the Congress, MP Anurag Thakur and Manoranjan Kalia of the BJP, and Simranjit Singh Mann of the SAD (A) have campaigned in support of the candidates of their respective parties.
