Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday won the first round of battle ahead the Gurdaspur by-election, scheduled for October 11 as the Congress high command declared his choice —State Congress chief Sunil Jakhar — as its candidate.
The stakes claimed by Capt Amarinder’s bête noire and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa for the seat was ignored by the Delhi Durbar. Bajwa has been seeking ticket for his wife and former MlA Charanjit Kaur Bajwa.
The party on Wednesday nominated Jakhar as the party candidate for the Gurdaspur lok Sabha bye-election with the national president Sonia Gandhi giving her nod.
The last date for filing of nominations is September 22 after the Election Commission issued the notification on September 15.
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the name of Sunil Jakhar as party candidate for the forthcoming lok Sabha by-election from Gurdaspur Parliamentary constituency in Punjab,” said All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Janardan Dwivedi in official statement.
The bye-election has been necessitated due to the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna some time ago. A majority of MlAs from Gurdaspur constituency had backed Jakhar’s candidature and so had Capt Amarinder.
Exuding confidence, Jakhar said that Congress party would register a “massive” victory in the bypoll which will be a “referendum” on the Modi government.
“It is a big responsibility (being nominated for Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll). With the kind of faith being reposed in me by the party, I am sure we will win this by-election with the support of all party workers and leaders,” Jakhar said.
Jakhar claimed that the Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll would be a referendum on the Modi government. “It is the election for a parliamentary seat. People are well aware of this. It will be a referendum on what the BJP promised three years back to garner votes, and what people
think about the regime now,” he said.
After successive victories from his bastion Abohar, Jakhar had faced defeats in his two previous polls — in 2017 assembly elections from Abohar and in 2014 lok Sabha polls from Ferozepur.