Day after AAP switch, Sushil Kumar Rinku is party’s Jalandhar LS bypoll pick
Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday named former Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku as its candidate for Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, scheduled to be held on May 10
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday named former Congress MLA Sushil Kumar Rinku as its candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll, scheduled to be held on May 10.
The announcement of Rinku’s candidature came a day after he joined the ruling AAP in the presence of the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Jalandhar. In a tweet, Mann shared information about Rinku being named as the AAP candidate for the bypoll along with a copy of the decision announced by the party’s general secretary (organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak.
Rinku was the Congress MLA from the Jalandhar West constituency in the previous assembly and had been in touch with AAP leaders for more than a month. The Congress expelled Rinku on Wednesday, citing his alleged “anti-party activities”. The former Congress MLA’s entry, however, did not go down well with AAP’s Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, who had defeated him by 4,200-odd votes in a close contest in the state polls last year. Though Angural was present at Rinku’s induction event, he seemed visibly upset. The MLA was, however, placated by party leaders. He was seen by Rinku’s side on Thursday.
The Jalandhar bypoll is crucial for the AAP, which swept to power in Punjab in March 2022 with 92 of the 117 seats in the state assembly but then suffered an unexpected defeat in its stronghold of Sangrur during the Lok Sabha bypoll a few months later. The Jalandhar bypoll has been necessitated due to the demise of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January this year. Chaudhary died after suffering a cardiac arrest during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Phillaur. The Congress has named his wife Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary as its candidate for the bypoll. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (SAD-BSP) alliance are still to name their nominees. The counting of votes will be held on May 13.
