Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday announced Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the Ludhiana (West) Assembly byelection.
By fielding the sitting MP, speculations in political circles are rife that, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal, who just faced humiliating defeat not only of his party but his bastion in Delhi Assembly elections, is going to the Rajya Sabha in his place in case Arora wins the bypoll.
The Ludhiana (West) seat fell vacant with the demise of Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, 58, who died after sustaining a gunshot wound in his head at his house last month.
The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the election schedule for the seat.
Interestingly, in October 2024, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out a raid at the residence of Arora in Ludhiana as part of a money laundering probe linked to a land ‘fraud’ case.
The raid was in connection with a chunk of land that was allotted to Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, one of the companies owned by Arora, by the state government for an industrial project, but it was used for a residential project.
AAP’s legislator Gogi joined the AAP in 2022 and defeated two-time MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu during the 2022 Assembly elections.
Responding to the nomination, candidate Arora wrote on X, “Humbled and grateful to the leadership @AamAadmiParty for reposing faith in me to contest the Ludhiana West bye-elections. As someone deeply connected to my hometown, I look forward to serving my people with dedication and sincerity.”
The seven Rajya Sabha MPs include Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, educationist Ashok Mittal, environmentalist-cum-religious leader Balbir Singh Seechewal, entrepreneur Vikramjit Singh Sahney, besides Sanjeev Arora.
Kejriwal lost the New Delhi seat to BJP’s Parvesh Verma by over 4,000 votes in the just concluded Assembly elections.
Party insiders said all six AAP Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab have also offered their seats to Kejriwal, but the former Delhi Chief Minister declined the offer.
