Akali turncoat, MP’s son among 4 picked by AAP for Punjab bypoll

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today announced its candidates for the November 13 bypolls to the four Assembly constituencies.

Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, a turncoat who joined AAP after leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal; Ishaan, son of MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal; Harinder Singh Dhaliwal, a close confidant of MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer; and party leader Gurdeep Singh Randhawa have been chosen as the candidates from the Gidderbaha, Chabbewal, Barnala and Dera Baba Nanak seats, respectively.

The byelections are considered crucial for the ruling party in the state, especially when three of the four Assembly segments — Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal — were earlier represented by Congressmen (Dr Chabbewal had quit the Congress to join AAP only in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll). AAP only had Barnala in its kitty. It is now aiming to increase its strength in the Vidhan Sabha (from the present 91) by striving to win the four seats. The byelections will reportedly be micro-managed by the party’s top brass. The bypolls have been necessitated after sitting MLAs — state Congress chief and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa — contested and won the Lok Sabha elections.

Dhillon, a close confidant of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, had quit the Akali Dal and joined AAP in August this year. Though there was some initial resistance to his joining the party from local AAP leaders, the party top brass has reportedly managed to settle things in Gidderbaha.

At Chabbewal, Dr Chabbewal was initially lobbying for a ticket for his brother. The party, however, decided on fielding his son Ishaan. Since Dr Chabbewal had managed a lead of 17,000 votes from the Chabbewal constituency during the LS election from Hoshiarpur, the party had agreed to allow him a say in choosing the candidate.

In Barnala, which is the most important seat for AAP, considering three political wins for Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer in the 2017 and 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, Hayer was allowed to have a say in the choice of the candidate.

For Dera Baba Nanak, the party had to choose between Randhawa, who is the party’s constituency in-charge and party’s general secretary Jagroop Singh Sekhwan. The latter was a strong contender for the seat, but the party chose Randhawa.