Ludhiana: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has retained the Ludhiana (West) Assembly seat in the by-election held following the demise of its MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora won the bypoll, transitioning from the Upper House of Indian Parliament to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Sanjeev Arora secured 35,179 votes, defeating Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who received 24,542 votes, by a margin of 10,637. BJP’s Jiwan Gupta polled 20,323 votes, while Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal)’s Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghuman managed 8,203. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar – Mann) candidate Navneet Kumar Gopi received 171 votes.

With Sanjeev Arora now elected as an MLA, his Rajya Sabha seat will fall vacant. There is growing speculation that AAP may nominating former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to the vacant seat, offering him a route to the Indian Parliament.