33 candidates in fray for bypoll to four assembly seats in Punjab

Thirty-three candidates are in the fray for bypolls to four assembly seats in Punjab, an official said on Thursday.

On the last day of withdrawal of nominations, three candidates withdrew their papers, a spokesperson of the office of the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer said.

By-elections to the four vacant assembly seats of Phagwara, Jalalabad, Dakha and Mukerian would be held on October 21.

In Phagwara, nine candidates, including BJP's Rajesh Bagha, Congress' B S Dhaliwal, AAP's Santosh Kumar, BSP's Bhagwan Das, Jarnail Singh Nangal of Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), are in the fray.

Akali councillor Thekedar Baljinder Singh withdrew his nomination from the Phagwara reserved assembly seat.

Phagwara (reserve) seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Som Parkash was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur parliamentary segment in the 2019 general elections.

Six candidates -- BJP's Jangi Lal Mahajan, Congress' Indu Bala, AAP's Gurdhian Singh Multani, among others, are left in the fray from Mukerian, while 11 nominees, including SAD's Manpreet Singh Ayali, Congress' Sandeep Sandhu, AAP's Amandeep Singh, Sukhdev Singh of the LIP will contest from Dakha.

Jalalabad has now seven candidates, including SAD's Raj Singh Dibipura, Congress' Raminder Singh Awla, AAP's Mahender Singh, Jagdeep Kamboj as Independent.

Election symbols have been allotted to all the contesting candidates, the spokesman said.

The Mukerian seat fell vacant following the death of Congress MLA Rajnish Kumar Babbi, while the Dakha seat got vacant after former AAP legislator and noted Supreme Court lawyer H S Phoolka's resignation was accepted by the Punjab assembly speaker.

The Jalalabad seat fell vacant after sitting MLA Sukhbir Singh Badal was elected to the Lok Sabha from Ferozepur parliamentary segment in the 2019 general elections.