Gupta will take on Congress heavyweight and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and advocate Parupkar Singh Ghumman, who, like Gupta, is also contesting his first election.In last year’s parliamentary elections, Ravneet Singh Bittu of the BJP had polled the highest number of votes (45,424) from the Ludhiana (West) Assembly segment, which is part of the Ludhiana Lok Sabha constituency, signalling a shift in urban voter sentiment.In the 2022 Assembly elections, Bikram Singh Sidhu of the saffron party had secured over 28,000 votes and came third, ahead of the Shiromani Akali Dal.Ashu won the seat twice in 2012 and 2017, but was defeated by AAP’s Gurpreet Singh Gogi by a margin of 7,512 votes in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.The bypoll, scheduled for June 19, was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi in January under mysterious circumstances involving a gunshot injury. Counting of votes will take place on June 23.
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