Ludhiana Election Result: AAP's Sanjeev Arora vs Congress' Bharat Bhushan Ashu. Who is winning
AAP candidate and Rajya Sabha member
Sanjeev Arora
moved ahead in the Ludhiana West assembly by-election on Monday, opening a 2,286-vote lead over Congress rival
Bharat Bhushan Ashu
after six of 14 counting rounds, Election Commission data showed. The seat polled on 19 June and saw 51.33 per cent turnout. Fourteen hopefuls are in the fray. After six of the 14 rounds of counting, Arora had polled 14,486 votes and Ashu 12,200 votes.
Ludhiana Election Result: Early rounds put AAP in front
By 10 am, officials at the Khalsa College for Women counting centre reported Arora with 14,486 votes and Ashu with 12,200. BJP nominee Jiwan Gupta stood third on 10,703, while Shiromani Akali Dal's Parupkar Singh Ghuman followed on 3,283. Ashu topped the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, but Arora's earlier advantage kept him ahead overall.
Turnout drops from 2022
Out of 1.74 lakh electors, barely half voted this time, a sharp fall from the 64 per cent recorded in the 2022 state election. Polling day passed without major incident under tight security.
by Taboola
by Taboola
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Seat fell vacant after MLA Gogi's death
The election was called when sitting AAP legislator Gurpreet Bassi Gogi died in January. In 2022 Gogi had unseated Ashu—his one-time friend—by 7,512 votes.
Ludhiana Election Result: Main contenders
Sanjeev Arora (AAP): Local industrialist, social worker and sitting Rajya Sabha MP.
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Bharat Bhushan Ashu (Congress): Two-term former MLA and state minister.
Jiwan Gupta (BJP): Businessman with grassroots links in Ludhiana's Hindu-dominated wards.
Parupkar Singh Ghuman (SAD): Party's urban face in the district.
Speculation over Arora's Rajya Sabha seat
Political circles have debated whether an Arora victory could free a Rajya Sabha berth for AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. The party denies any plan to shift Kejriwal to Parliament's upper house.
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Ludhiana Election Result: Campaign flashpoints
The BJP targeted AAP's record, saying the government had turned Punjab into a 'rehabilitation centre' for Kejriwal's rejected Delhi loyalists. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann countered, calling the by-poll a battle between 'humility' and 'arrogance'. AAP leaders expressed confidence in their 'pro-people governance', while opposition parties relied on what they called mounting anti-incumbency.
Last October, the Enforcement Directorate searched Arora's Ludhiana residence in a money-laundering probe linked to a land case. AAP dismissed the action as politically motivated.
Counting will continue through eight more rounds. The Election Commission is expected to declare the final result by the afternoon. AAP needs to hold the seat to keep its assembly tally at 92; a Congress win would lift the party to 19 and hand the opposition a symbolic boost in Punjab's business capital.
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