BJP, AAP rely on turncoats for Jalandhar West assembly bypoll

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced their candidates for the bypoll to the Jalandhar West assembly seat in Punjab.
Both parties fielded candidates who have switched sides in the recent past. While the AAP named Mohinder Bhagat as its candidate, the BJP fielded Sheetal Angural for the elections.
Mohinder Bhagat is the son of Bhagat Chunni Lal, who was a minister in the SAD-BJP government. He had unsuccessfully contested from the Jalandhar West seat in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. Last year, Bhagat quit the BJP and joined the AAP.
On the other hand, Sheetal Angural resigned as an AAP legislator from the Jalandhar West seat on March 28 and joined the BJP a day later.
In the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Angural had won from the Jalandhar West assembly seat by defeating Sushil Rinku, who was then the Congress candidate.
Both, Rinku and Angural belong to Jalandhar West constituency and have been at loggerheads for most of their political careers. It was after Rinku joined the BJP that their relations improved and now they are often seen together.
The bypoll to the Jalandhar West assembly seat will be held on July 10 and counting of votes will take place on July 13.
The nomination process for the bypoll to the Jalandhar West had started on July 14.
The last date for filing nominations is June 21. While the scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 24, the last date for the withdrawal of nominations is June 26.
The Jalandhar byelection has become a prestige battle for all parties, particularly the AAP and the BJP, as they are going all out to dominate in the SC-reserved constituency.