Congress leader Sunil Jakhar and BJP rival Swaran Salaria on Friday filed their nominations for the October 11 by-election in the Gurdaspur lok Sabha constituency.
Top Punjab Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, accompanied Jakhar when he submitted his nomination papers for the seat.
The seat fell vacant in April following demise of Vinod Khanna due to cancer. Khanna held the seat from 1998 to 2004 and from 2014 till his death.
Hailing from the Abohar belt in southwest Punjab and considered an outsider in Gurdaspur by some, Sunil Jakhar has the backing of Capt Amarinder Singh, who led the party to a thumping victory in the February 4 assembly elections.
Salaria, a Mumbai-based millionaire businessman involved in controversies in the past, also filed his nomination papers on Friday, the last date for filing nominations. The result will be announced on October 15.
He was accompanied by Punjab BJP president and Union Minister Vijay Sampla and alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal’s president Sukhbir Badal.
Jakhar lost in previous assembly polls even though the Congress won 77 of the 117 assembly seats. He was made Punjab Congress president in May.
The bypoll will see a tough fight between the BJP and the Congress, fresh from its emphatic win in assembly elections.Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the main opposition party in the assembly, could play a spoiler. It has fielded Major General Suresh Khajuria (retd) for the seat.