Ludhiana Election Result: AAP's Sanjeev Arora bags crucial win against Congress' Bharat Bhushan Ashu

After facing setbacks in Lok Sabha and Delhi state polls, AAP saw bagging two out of five seats in the Assembly bypolls of Gujarat and Punjab. AAP candidate and Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora bagged a crucial win ahead in the Ludhiana West assembly by-election on Monday. The seat polled on 19 June and saw 51.33 per cent turnout. Fourteen hopefuls are in the fray. After six of the 14 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 14,486 votes and Ashu 12,200 votes.

Turnout drops from 2022

Out of 1.74 lakh electors, barely half voted this time, a sharp fall from the 64 per cent recorded in the 2022 state election. Polling day passed without major incident under tight security.

Seat fell vacant after MLA Gogi’s death

The election was called when sitting AAP legislator Gurpreet Bassi Gogi died in January. In 2022 Gogi had unseated Ashu—his one-time friend—by 7,512 votes.

Ludhiana Election Result: Main contenders

Sanjeev Arora (AAP): Local industrialist, social worker and sitting Rajya Sabha MP.

Bharat Bhushan Ashu (Congress): Two-term former MLA and state minister.

Jiwan Gupta (BJP): Businessman with grassroots links in Ludhiana’s Hindu-dominated wards.

Parupkar Singh Ghuman (SAD): Party’s urban face in the district.

Speculation over Arora’s Rajya Sabha seat

Political circles have debated whether an Arora victory could free a Rajya Sabha berth for AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. The party denies any plan to shift Kejriwal to Parliament’s upper house.

Ludhiana Election Result: Campaign flashpoints

The BJP targeted AAP’s record, saying the government had turned Punjab into a “rehabilitation centre” for Kejriwal’s rejected Delhi loyalists. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann countered, calling the by-poll a battle between “humility” and “arrogance”. AAP leaders expressed confidence in their “pro-people governance”, while opposition parties relied on what they called mounting anti-incumbency.

Last October, the Enforcement Directorate searched Arora’s Ludhiana residence in a money-laundering probe linked to a land case. AAP dismissed the action as politically motivated.

Counting will continue through eight more rounds. The Election Commission is expected to declare the final result by the afternoon. AAP needs to hold the seat to keep its assembly tally at 92; a Congress win would lift the party to 19 and hand the opposition a symbolic boost in Punjab’s business capital.