Chandigarh: Charanjit Singh Atwal, a Senior member of the Akali Dal and a former deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, has resigned from the primary membership of Akali Dal. On Wednesday, April 19, Atwal submitted his letter of resignation to the party leader. He was a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) member who served as the 14th Lok Sabha representative for the Punjab district of Phillaur. Additionally, he served as the Punjab Assembly's Speaker twice. It is significant that On Sunday in New Delhi, Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, along with several other individuals from Punjab, joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). At the BJP's national headquarters in the Capital on Sunday, they were formally admitted to the party in the presence of senior BJP leaders. The byelection has become necessary after Chaudhary, the sitting MP, died of a heart attack during Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 14. From 2004 until 2009, Charanjit Atwal served as the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha and twice as the speaker of the Punjab parliament. In the Jalandhar constituency, he ran unsuccessfully against Congress candidate Santokh Singh Chaudhary in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He received 3,66,221 votes but fell short of Chaudhary's total by 19,491. Karnataka Polls: Yediyurappa's son files nomination in Shikaripura, What next? 'Congress will oust Jagadish Shettar after use': CM Bommai Karnataka Polls: Quitting Spree goes on in BJP as Ayanur Manjunath Quits Party