Counting of votes is going on after the by-elections held on 13 assembly seats in 7 states of India.
The Election Commission has officially declared the result of only Jalandhar West seat of Punjab so far. On this seat, Mohinder Bhagat of Aam Aadmi Party defeated Sheetal Angural of BJP by more than 37 thousand votes. Surinder Kaur of Congress Party has been at third place on this seat.
This is a major boost to AAP after their debacle in Lok Sabha elections. Bhagat, the son of former cabinet minister and BJP veteran Chunni Lal Bhagat, polled 55,246 votes, while Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Sheetal Angural bagged 17,921 votes and Congress’ Surinder Kaur got 16,757 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Surjit Kaur polled 1,242 votes and BSP’s Binder Kumar Lakha got 734 votes.
Mann had led the campaign
During the Jalandhar West by-election, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took charge of the AAP campaign, making significant efforts to secure victory. Following the party's performance of winning only three out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in June, Mann's leadership was under scrutiny. To ensure the AAP retained the seat, Mann not only led Mohinder Bhagat's campaign but also served as his poll manager and strategist. Mann relocated to Jalandhar after the by-election announcement, coordinating the presence of all AAP MLAs and MPs across the 23 wards in the constituency.
According to the Election Commission website, about 5 hours after the counting of votes started, BJP is leading on 21 seats. These seats are Hamirpur assembly seat of Himachal Pradesh and Amarwara of MP.
Apart from this, Congress is leading on 4 seats while TMC is leading on all 4 seats in West Bengal. At the same time, JDU and DMK are leading on one seat each.