Chandigarh: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, and Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ravneet Singh Bittu are among the BJP’s 40 star campaigners for the upcoming Punjab Assembly bypolls. The party released the list of campaigners on Tuesday evening, which also includes BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh, Punjab Unit Chief Sunil Jakhar, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, former Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani, and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
In addition to these prominent leaders, MPs Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma will actively campaign for the party. The bypolls will take place for four assembly seats: Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, and Barnala. These bypolls were necessitated after MLAs representing these constituencies were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
The BJP has fielded Ravikaran Singh Kahlon from Dera Baba Nanak, Kewal Singh Dhillon from Barnala, and Manpreet Singh Badal from Gidderbaha. However, the party has yet to announce its candidate for the Chabbewal seat. The Gidderbaha seat became vacant after Congress’s Amrinder Singh Raja Warring was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ludhiana. Similarly, the Barnala seat was vacated after AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Hayer won from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, having previously won the Barnala seat in both the 2017 and 2022 assembly polls.
Dera Baba Nanak was vacated by Congress’s Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur. The Chabbewal bypoll was necessitated after Raj Kumar Chabbewal, who was a Congress MLA but later joined AAP, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur. Polling in these four assembly segments will be held on November 13, and the counting of votes will take place on November 23. The last date for filing nominations is October 25, with the scrutiny of nomination papers scheduled for October 28. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is October 30.
