JALANDHAR: Voting in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection, which included a four-corner contest between the BJP, Congress, SAD, and the incumbent AAP, started on Saturday, May 13, 2023 in the morning. According to officials, counting started at 8 am. In and around the counting centres set up at the Director Land Records and Sports College Complex office on Kapurthala Road, a strict security setup has been put in place.

Among the 19 contenders, Sushil Rinku of the AAP, Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary of the Congress, Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal of the BJP, and Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stand out. 54.70% of eligible voters participated in the byelection, which was place on May 10, according to the officials. It was significantly lower than the 63.04 percent seen in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.

Santokh Singh Chaudhary, a Congressman, had left the Jalandhar seat vacant when he passed away in January.

Atwal switched from the SAD to the BJP, while former MLA Rinku ran for the AAP after leaving the Congress. Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, a two-term Banga MLA who was supported by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was put forward by the SAD, whereas Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary, Chaudhary's wife, was put forward by the Congress.

By winning the byelection, the ruling AAP hopes to announce its election to the Lok Sabha. A victory will be encouraging for the party, which suffered a crushing defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection barely three months after sweeping to power in Punjab in March 2022.

The Bhagwant Mann-led government has been promoting its initiatives to offer free electricity and jobs to young people, regularise the services of contract workers, take action against corruption, and open mohalla clinics, among others. The bypoll is also seen as a test of the government's performance over the past year.

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