Ludhiana, June 22, 2025 — All eyes are on Ludhiana West as the political fate of Punjab’s most-watched constituency will be sealed on Monday morning. Vote counting for the high-profile assembly by-election begins at 8:00 AM on June 23, following a last-minute revision by the Election Commission.
The contest has turned into a four-way showdown between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), with each party pulling out all the stops in a bid to secure the seat.
The by-election was triggered by the sudden death of sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi, making it a test of AAP’s hold in urban Punjab. With a voter turnout of 51.33% across 194 polling stations on June 19, the relatively moderate participation suggests a tightly-fought race with no clear frontrunner.
In the fray are AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, Congress heavyweight Bharat Bhushan Ashu, BJP’s Jiwan Gupta, and SAD’s Parupkar Singh Ghuman. Each candidate has claimed strong public support, and exit polls have indicated a split verdict among voters.
Counting will take place at Khalsa College for Women under high security. The district administration has established 14 EVM counting tables and two separate tables for postal and ETPBS ballots. General Observer Rajeev Kumar and District Election Officer Himanshu Jain confirmed that all arrangements have been finalized to ensure a smooth and transparent counting process.
With Punjab’s urban electorate under the spotlight, the outcome of this by-election is expected to serve as a litmus test for all major parties ahead of the 2027 state elections and the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. The result will also indicate whether AAP retains its grip or if the traditional parties are regaining ground in Punjab’s political landscape.
