Turncoat Sheetal Angural, on Saturday, faces defeat in Punjab's Jalandhar West assembly by-poll, with Aam Aadmi Party's Mohinder Bhagat taking the seat. Angural is defeated by a margin of 37,325 votes.
Bhagat polled 55,246 votes while Angural secured 17,921 votes, according to officials. Congress nominee Surinder Kaur, who was at the third spot, got 16,757 votes. With this victory, the ruling AAP will now have 91 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab assembly.
Celebrations broke out at the residence of Bhagat in Jalandhar as his family members and supporters were ecstatic over the victory in the reserve assembly constituency.
AAP activists burst firecrackers, distributed sweets, and danced to the beats of 'dhol' over the victory of Bhagat.
Bhagat, 66, attributed his victory to the development works undertaken by the Bhagwant Mann-led government.
"The people have given their mandate in favor of AAP because of the works done by the state government," he said.
Bhagat maintained a lead throughout the counting process, which spanned 13 rounds. Congress candidate Surinder Kaur initially held the second spot until the ninth round, after which BJP's Angural moved into second place. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Surjit Kaur finished fourth, while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) nominee Binder Kumar came in fifth.
The by-poll was necessitated after the seat fell vacant following the resignation of Angural, who was previously an AAP legislator, and joined the BJP in March. The poll saw a voter turnout of 54.98%, a significant drop from the 67% recorded in the 2022 state elections.
This victory is seen as a significant boost for Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, whose party faced a drubbing in the recent Lok Sabha polls, winning only three of the state's 13 parliamentary constituencies.
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