Chandigarh, Jun 23 (PTI) The Ludhiana West assembly bypoll outcome has come as a shot in the arm of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was looking for an electoral victory following its debacle in the Delhi assembly polls, with party supremo Arvind Kejriwal saying the people of Punjab had endorsed the party's governance with overwhelming support and state Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann stressing it indicates the people are "extremely happy" with his government's work.

Punjab's ruling AAP retained the Ludhiana West Assembly seat with its candidate Sanjeev Arora defeating his nearest rival and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes.

Arora polled 35,179 votes while Ashu secured 24,542 votes, according to the Election Commission data. BJP's Jiwan Gupta polled 20,323 votes while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman got 8,203 votes.

The byelection was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

The bypoll result came as a setback for the Congress, which was eyeing to regain its foothold over the urban constituency that it held six times in the past.

The Ludhiana West bypoll was seen as a litmus test for the Mann-led AAP government and the ruling party's national leaders including Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, who aggressively campaigned to retain this seat.

The victory was important for the Kejriwal-led AAP, which faced a drubbing in the Delhi assembly elections held earlier this year.

The win will boost the morale of the party cadre as the bypoll was seen as an electoral contest that would set the tone for the 2027 state assembly polls.

Ecstatic over the victory, the AAP leaders ascribed the win to the Mann government's work done in the past three years and the hard work of party volunteers.

At a press conference in New Delhi following the results, Kejriwal said, "We have won with almost double the margin by which we won in 2022. This shows that we are doing good work in Punjab. Some people are saying this is a semi-final to 2027 -- there will be a storm of AAP in 2027." On his party's victory, CM Mann said, "This win with a huge lead is a clear indication that the people of the state are extremely happy with the government's work. We are working day and night with complete honesty and without any discrimination for the progress and prosperity of Punjab." Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "It is a big victory of AAP in Ludhiana. AAP has won a semi-final and it will also win the final as we will again form the government in Punjab in 2027." AAP had fielded its Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora for the bypoll.

Out of six assembly bypolls held in the past three years, the AAP won five -- Jalandhar West, Ludhiana West, Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak and Chabbewal.

For the Congress, prestige was also at stake in the bypoll as it wanted to regain the assembly segment, which it lost in 2022.

However, factionalism within the Congress during the poll campaign was apparent as Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa and MP Sukhjinder Randhawa largely stayed away from canvassing.

Leaders like MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh, MP Charanjit Singh Channi and MLA Pargat Singh were the visible faces during electioneering.

Asked whether the party suffered because of ignoring the Punjab Congress president and the LoP, Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh told reporters that this is not the time to discuss it now.

"We have lost and the AAP has won. We accept the mandate of the people," he said.

To a question on any internal fighting in the state unit of the Congress, Pargat Singh said that there was no such thing.

Congress candidate Ashu said, "I take complete responsibility for this defeat. I had the full support of the party. I feel that the entire party stood by me." Stakes were also high for the BJP in the bypoll.

The party was looking for a victory in the bypoll given the fact that in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, party nominee Ravneet Singh Bittu had led from the Ludhiana West assembly segment, which is part of the Ludhiana parliamentary seat. However, he lost the parliamentary seat to Congress nominee Warring.

Bittu and several senior party leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini campaigned in favour of BJP candidate Gupta.

Thanking voters for their support, Bittu said Gupta secured over 20,000 votes in just 14 days of campaigning, which is a remarkable achievement.

The Sukhbir Singh Badal-led SAD faced a humiliating defeat in the bypoll as its nominee Parupkar Singh Ghuman secured just 8,203 votes, thus, forfeiting his security deposit.

The Ludhiana West bypoll was seen as a test of Badal's leadership. SAD was looking to resurrect itself after a series of crushing electoral losses.

Badal, who was elected again as party president in April after he resigned following being declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht last year, led his party's poll campaign for the party nominee Ghuman.

Rebel Akali leaders Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Surjit Singh Rakhra said the defeat of the Akali candidate in the bypoll despite the constituency having a large number of Sikh voters shows that Sikh voters are angry with it. PTI CHS KSS KSS