Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi is SAD-BSP candidate for jalandhar by poll

Battle lines for the ensuing Jalandhar Lok Sabha by election have started firming up with the announcement of yet another candidate. The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance that had decided at a meeting of its senior leaders to jointly field a SAD candidate today announced the name of  Banga MLA Dr Sukhwinder Sukhi. He will be the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by poll. The announcement was made by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal in Jalandhar today.

“Pleased to announce that SAD-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance has decided to field prominent social activist, two time Banga legislator & senior Akali leader Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi as its candidate for the Jalandhar parliamentary by-election,” said Sukhbir Badal in a tweet.

Sukhi is a two-time MLA, who won the Assembly elections in 2017 and 2022. He is an ENT specialist, who had switched to SAD from BSP.

He is one of the just three MLAs from SAD, who were able to win in the 2022 Assembly elections. His Banga Assembly seat falls outside Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, the BSP leadership also endorsed the announcement  and expressed its support for the candidature of Sukhi. BSP Punjab chief Jasvir Garhi has pledged his full  support to Sukhi.

The polling for the Jalandhar parliamentary seat will take place on May 10 while the counting will be held on May 13.

The by-poll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary in January at the age of 76. He died of a heart attack while participating in the Bharat Jodho yatra of Congress.

He died after suffering a cardiac arrest during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jalandhar’s Phillaur.

Now, three of the major political parties – Congress (Kanwarjit kaur), AAP (Shushil Kumar) and SAD-BSP (Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi – have already announced their candidates and the Bharatiya Janata Party is also expected to name its candidate in the coming days.

Prabhjot Singh