Chandigarh [India], June 23 : Punjab Minister Balbir Singh hailed the Aam Aadmi Party's win in the Ludhiana West by-election as a sign of public trust in the ruling party's governance and ideology.
The AAP retained the seat as the by-election was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi in January. Voting took place on June 19.
AAP's Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West (Punjab) Assembly by-election by a margin of 10,637 votes against Congress's Bharat Bhushan Anshu. The BJP's Jiwan Gupta settled for the third spot while Shiromani Akali Dal's Advocate Paurpkar Singh was a distant fourth.
Reacting to the result, Punjab Minister Balbir Singh said, "It is a big day for Aam Aadmi Party. We have registered impressive wins both here and in Gujarat. This is happening because people like Arvind Kejriwal's ideology.
The by-election in Ludhiana West was being closely watched, with several parties seeing it as a litmus test ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
When asked about opposition parties had earlier dubbed the bypolls as a "trailer" of the larger political battle to come in 2027 state assembly polls, Singh said, "Now that the results are out, I would say that in a democracy, the opposition is also important. I appeal to all parties to work together for Punjab's progress, especially to make our state drug-free."
When asked about whether Sanjeev Arora would be appointed as a Cabinet Minister in the Punjab government, Singh clarified that such decisions lie with the top brass of the party. "This comes under the purview of the national leadership. The senior leadership will take a decision"
Speaking to ANI, winning AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora said, "I express my gratitude to all the citizens of Ludhiana and also thank all the volunteers, counsellors, MLAs, ministers, leaders, and especially our Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal."
The AAP candidate's wife, Sandhya Arora, also spoke to ANI and said, "I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everybody for supporting Sanjeev Arora. He is a man of development and will fulfil all the promises."
Following Sanjeev Arora's victory, AAP workers celebrated and distributed sweets in Chandigarh.