11 in fray for Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll

Eleven candidates are in fray for the Gurdaspur Parliamentary by-election to be held on October 11, a senior Punjab poll official said here on Wednesday.

None of the candidates withdrew their nomination papers on Wedneday, the last day of withdrawal.

Punjab's Additional Chief Electoral Officer Punjab Manpreet Singh said that election symbols have been allotted to all candidates.

The main fight is between Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Swaran Salaria, Congress' Sunil Kumar Jakhar of Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party's Maj. Gen. Suresh Kumar Khajuria (retd).

Other candidates are from smaller state parties and independents.

Theresult will be announced on October 15.

The bypoll will see a tough fight between the BJP, which held the seat, and the state's ruling Congress, which, fresh from its emphatic win in the state assembly elections, is set to give a tough fight.

The AAP, the main opposition party in the Punjab assembly, could play a spoiler for both parties.

The Lok Sabha seat fell vacant in April this year following the passing away of veteran actor Vinod Khanna due to cancer. Khanna held the seat from 1998 to 2004 and then from 2014 till his demise.

The BJP preferred Salaria over Kavita Khanna, the widow of the actor Vinod Khanna. Vinod Khanna had stormed the Congress bastion on his electoral debut in 1998, defeating five-time Congress MP Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder. He won the seat in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.

--iANS

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