Now, assembly by-elections for five seats are to be held in Punjab after Sukhwinder Singh joins AAP

Now, assembly by-elections for five seats are to be held in Punjab after Sukhwinder Singh joins AAP

Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ August 14,2024

Today, shiromani akali dal (SAD) gets a jolt as its MLA from Banga Dr Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi joined Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Now, in coming days assembly by-elections on five seats are going to be held in Punjab along with Haryana assembly elections.

The by-elections will be held in the state as some sitting MLAs are elected as member of parliaments (MPs.) and today, Dr Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi who has left shiromani akali dal (SAD) and joins aam aadmi party (AAP), the Banga seat will also see a by-election.

As per anti defection law, “If, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party have agreed to merge with other party they are exempted from disqualification.As the rule of defection against the party having less than one third party MLAs are not cleared by the supreme court, the Banga seat will see by-elections” said a senior leader and former speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Now, assembly by-elections for five seats are to be held in Punjab after Sukhwinder Singh joins AAP. The by-elections will be held for Barnala assembly constituency as its MLA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer has been elected as Sangrur MP. He was a cabinet minister in Bhagwant Mann led AAP government in Punjab. After his elevation as MP, a cabinet berth had also got vacant in the state government.

Gidderbaha in Sri Muktsar sahib is another seat where by-elections is going to be held as its MLA Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has won the Ludhiana lok sabha seat by 20,942 votes.

Another assembly seat that is going to face by-elections is Chabbewal in Hoshiarpur as its MLA Raj Kumar has won the Hoshiarpur parliamentary seat by 44111 votes and he is also going to represent it in the lower house of the parliament.

Dera Baba Nanak assembly constituency is all set to have by-elections as its MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa had won the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat by 83000 votes and he is going to represent it in the lok sabha as MP.

Earlier, in March, 2024, Akali MLA from Banga, Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi, had reportedly met Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at his residence in Chandigarh. At that time also, the buzz remained that he was joining AAP before the parliamentary elections.

Dr Sukhi, an ENT surgeon by profession, had contested for the Akali Dal from Jalandhar Lok Sabha (reserved) seat in 2023 bypoll but had lost to AAP MP Sushil Rinku