Overview

• June 2 marked the deadline for filing candidacies, with BJP’s Jiwan Gupta joining AAP’s Sanjiv Arora, Congress’s Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghumman in the race.
• The Election Commission will scrutinize papers on June 3 and enforce a June 5 withdrawal deadline before the June 19 by-election.
• The vacancy arose after AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi’s death in January, prompting this midterm contest in a key industrial constituency.
• Senior BJP figures Vijay Rupani, Sunil Jakhar and Ravneet Singh Bittu attended Gupta’s nomination drive and urged voters to deliver a decisive mandate.
• Party leaders maintain that a BJP win here could build momentum for forming a BJP government in Punjab’s 2027 assembly polls.