Chandigarh, Sep 24 The Election Commission on Wednesday announced that the by-election for a Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab that fell vacant following the resignation of sitting AAP member Sanjeev Arora will be held on October 24.
Counting will also be held on October 24 after the election between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
As per the poll panel, nominations will open after the issue of notification on October 6, and the last date for filing candidature will be October 13. The scrutiny of nominations will be held the next day, on October 14, and October 16 is the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
Decks have been cleared for the state's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to nominate someone from the party.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who was speculated to enter the Rajya Sabha, has denied that he is in the race.
Businessman-turned-politician leader Arora resigned his Rajya Sabha membership on July 1 after he won the bypoll to the Ludhiana West assembly constituency by a margin of over 10,000 votes against his nearest rival Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress.
He is currently a Cabinet minister in the Bhagwant Mann-led government.
A first-time MP, Arora was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on April 10, 2022, and his tenure was till April 9, 2028.
Since the fielding of MP Arora in the Assembly bypoll, rumours had risen that Kejriwal, who just faced a humiliating defeat not only of his party but also his own seat in Delhi Assembly elections, is going to the Rajya Sabha in Arora’s place. Kejriwal lost the New Delhi seat to the BJP’s Parvesh Verma by over 4,000 votes in the Assembly elections.
Apart from Arora, the AAP’s other Rajya Sabha members are Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, educationist Ashok Mittal, environmentalist-cum-religious leader Balbir Singh Seechewal, and entrepreneur Vikramjit Singh Sahney.
Party insiders said all six AAP Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab have also offered their seats to Kejriwal, but the former Delhi Chief Minister has declined the offer.
Setting aside speculation of fielding Kejriwal, AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar had said: "Arvind Kejriwal is not going to Rajya Sabha…media sources were earlier saying that he will become the Chief Minister of Punjab."
"Arvind Kejriwal is the national convenor of AAP. I agree that his demand is very high, but he is not limited to any one seat," she had told the media in Delhi.
However, Leader of Opposition in Punjab and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa had claimed that Kejriwal’s Rajya Sabha entry "is certain".
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