In last year’s parliamentary elections, AAP’s Ashok Parashar alias Pappi finished a distant third on the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat, which was won by Amarinder Raja Warring of the Congress.Ravneet Singh alias Bittu of the BJP, who was earlier in Congress and the sitting MP from this seat, finished second.Out of the nine assembly segments under the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, including Ludhiana (West), the BJP led in five urban constituencies, and the Congress led in four segments, including two rural ones. The ruling AAP failed to lead in any of the nine segments.It was a similar situation in the Municipal Corporation Elections in December last year. AAP won 41 out of 85 wards, falling short of a majority by seven seats, while Congress won 30 and BJP secured 18 wards. Notably, the wives of the then MLA Gurpreet Gogi (who is now deceased) and Ashok Parashar lost from their respective wards.Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress was arrested when the AAP government came to power in the state three years ago in connection with a foodgrains scam.He remained behind bars for two years. However, in December last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the FIRs registered against him, terming them “pure vendetta”.Both Arora and Ashu have already started door-to-door campaigns and are holding public meetings. The contest is expected to grow even more intense in the coming days.
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