As curtains draw on campaign, stage set for battle of prestige in Jalandhar West

He expressed his intention of retaining his rented Jalandhar house even after the elections and be available for the people at least two days every week. He said that Jalandhar is his ‘Karambhoomi’ and pledged to sign and pass everything related to its development.

The seat fell vacant after AAP MLA Sheetal Angural joined the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections and subsequently resigned. Sheetal is now the BJP candidate from Jalandhar West.

Congress has placed its bet on Surinder Kaur, a councillor and former senior deputy mayor. BJP has given ticket to a former AAP MLA. SAD’s Surjit Kaur lacks support from her own party, which has endorsed BSP candidate Binder Kumar Lakha.

The reserved seat has 1.72 lakh voters, comprising Dalit communities such as Ravidassia, Valmiki, and Bhagat. It has the highest concentration of Bhagat community members in Punjab, constituting around 20% of the electorate.

While during the entire campaigning, issues such as drug abuse, illegal lotteries, poor civic amenities gained prominances, on the last day of canvassing, parties intensified their rhetoric with serious allegations and preparations for the polls.

Addressing public gatherings in wards 75 and 36, Mann urged voters to rally behind Mohinder Bhagat, whom he hailed as an embodiment of honesty and dedication. “God does everything for the betterment; the corrupt person resigned. In Bhagat, Jalandhar West will get an honest MLA, whom I will make a minister,” he said.

Taking a swipe at opposition parties, Mann said that neither Congress nor SAD could match AAP’s integrity and work ethic. “Arvind Kejriwal is in jail under false charges. Let’s win this election for him and give him something to smile about while he fights against dictators,” Mann said, adding that the condition of Sukhbir Badal has become so dire that he withdrew support from his candidate, urging votes for the Bahujan Samaj Party.

AAP also renewed its allegations against Congress’ Surinder Kaur, accusing her of nopotism. AAP leader Pawan Kumar Tinu alleged that during her tenure as senior deputy mayor, she secured a Junior Engineer job for her son in the Municipal Corporation.
“Her son Karan never reported to work but received salary,” Tinu said, further challenging Surinder Kaur to respond to these allegations.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders, including Anil Sareen and former Jalandhar MP Sushil Rinku leveling accusations against the AAP and the state administration at a press conference. Sareen accused AAP of intimidating around 200 owners of industrial sector to secure votes. “We have lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding this,” he said. “From state government ministers to local BJP leaders, AAP is abusing power and is resorting to intimidation tactics. This is unprecedented in Punjab’s electoral history, and unfortunately, it’s happening under Mann’s watch,” he added.

Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring also launched a scathing attack on the opposition parties during his press conference. “In my 45 years of political career, I have never seen such a disastrous government,” he said. He slammed the AAP government for failing on all fronts and accused it of transforming Punjab from ‘Rangla Punjab’ (Prosperous Punjab) to ‘Ganda Punjab’ (Polluted Punjab).

Accusing AAP of misusing power during the bypolls, Warring said, “They facilitated the release of gangster Daljit Singh Bhana for campaigning in their favour.”