Jalandhar Lok Sabha Bypoll: AAP Leading By Over 52,000 Votes, Congress Distant Second

12.05 pm

AAP has consolidated its lead in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat bypolls, with party candidate Sushil Kumar Rinku ahead of Congress' Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by over 52,000 votes.

9.30 am

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in the Jalandhar bypoll with Congress at the second position.

According to the Election Commission data, AAP has secured 31.9 per cent of the votes counted, while Congress' vote share was at 29 per cent.

BJP has secured 18.7 per cent votes so far while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) vote share was at 14.33 per cent.

8.00 am

The counting for the Jalandhar Parliamentary seat bypoll has begun on 13 May.

The constituency registered a turnout of 54.5 per cent. This was almost 8 per cent lower than than the turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election: 62.36 per cent.

The bypoll was necessitated after the sitting MP, Santokh Singh Chaudhary of the Congress, passed away due to a cardiac arrest.

The tragedy is said to have occurred while Chaudhary was participating in the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra.

In the ensuing bypoll, following were the candidates fielded by the four major parties:

Congress: Karamjit Kaur (Chaudhary's wife)

BJP: Inder Iqbal Atwal (who crossed over from the Akali Dal).

SAD-BSP: Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi (MLA of Banga; one of only three MLAs of Akali Dal who won in 2022)

AAP: Sushil Rinku (who crossed over recently from the Congress).