Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Wednesday declared its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as the party candidate for the Ludhiana West assembly bypoll, triggering speculation about the party taking the first step towards creating a vacancy in the Upper House of Parliament for its national convener, Arvind Kejriwal, to fill.
AAP spokespersons were quick to refute such speculation. However, party sources did not dismiss the possibility of the former Delhi chief minister taking the Punjab route to enter the Rajya Sabha.
Sanjeev Arora is a Ludhiana-based industrialist, chosen by the party in March 2022 to go to the Rajya Sabha.
On Wednesday, Sandeep Pathak, the AAP national general secretary (organisation), announced Arora as the Ludhiana West by-poll candidate. Party chief Arvind Kejriwal met Arora in New Delhi, earlier on Tuesday, sparking talks about Kejriwal wanting to take Arora’s seat in the Rajya Sabha.
The Ludhiana West assembly seat fell vacant on 10 January this year, after the sitting AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi died of a gunshot wound. The police concluded an accidental firing killed Gogi while he was cleaning his weapon. The date of the election is yet to be declared.
Arora’s announcement as an assembly seat candidate triggered a barrage of criticism against Kejriwal from the Opposition in Punjab, saying that the AAP supremo was trying to pave his way to power after his party’s crushing defeat in Delhi earlier this month.
Union Minister Ravneet Bittu said Kejriwal was “greedy for power”. “Why is AAP’s sitting Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora suddenly contesting the Ludhiana West bypoll? Is @ArvindKejriwal plotting his own Rajya Sabha entry? Is he desperate for a government bungalow in Delhi? The man will go to any extent to maintain his dictatorship. Greed has no limits!” Bittu wrote on ‘X’.
His party colleague and BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill pointed out Kejriwal’s “major FOMO” after the Delhi polls, using a Gen-Z acronym, “fear of missing out”. “Has sitting AAP Rajya Sabha MP been asked to vacate [his RS] seat to make 3P ‘power, perks & privileges’ greedy Kejriwal happy?” wrote Shergill on ‘X’.
Sitting Rajya Sabha AAP MP Sanjeev Arora declared candidate for Ludhiana West Bypoll (MLA) . Why did this happen:
>Kejriwal wants to enter Rajya Sabha ?
>Kejriwal wants Govt accommodation in Delhi ?
>Kejriwal having major power FOMO after losing elections ?Has Sitting AAP… pic.twitter.com/lpfEXWKQZT
— Jaiveer Shergill (@JaiveerShergill) February 26, 2025
BJP’s IT cell incharge Amit Malviya accused Kejriwal of indulging in “transactional politics” on ‘X’.
“AAP has fielded Sanjeev Arora, its Rajya Sabha MP, as a candidate for the Ludhiana West Assembly by-poll. Is this being done to clear the path for Arvind Kejriwal, who just lost his own seat in New Delhi, to get nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab? Wouldn’t it be better if someone from Punjab represented the state instead of Kejriwal?” Malviya asked.
“Has AAP also promised its Rajya Sabha MP a ministerial position once he wins and vacates his seat? This kind of transactional politics must be condemned. The people of Ludhiana must defeat Sanjeev Arora so that he cannot offer his seat to Arvind Kejriwal without losing his own,” Malviya added on ‘X’.
Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira also took to ‘X’ to condemn “the back door entry of @ArvindKejriwal into Rajya Sabha from Punjab by striking a deal with MP Sanjiv Arora promising him a cabinet berth if elected from Ludhiana-West by-election!”
“This conspiracy clearly shows that @ArvindKejriwal cannot stay a day without power as he has been rejected by the people of Delhi! I also question @BhagwantMann how he will defend this anti-Punjab action as he has often accused @INCPunjab opposition MLAs of not knowing [the] Punjabi language, having studied from convent schools. Can @ArvindKejriwal sign his own name in Punjabi?” he further questioned.
Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia wrote on ‘X’ that the move clearly showed that Punjab had been made to surrender before Delhi. “AAP has nominated Rajya Sabha MP @MP_SanjeevArora as party candidate from Ludhiana West. Now he will resign as MP, and in his place, @ArvindKejriwal or @msisodia will be made Rajya Sabha member.
Once again, Punjab has been made to surrender before Delhi. Punjab is paying the price, but @BhagwantMann is unfazed … he is least bothered about Punjab and Punjabis.”
The senior spokesperson of the AAP in Punjab, Neel Garg, told ThePrint that there was no truth in the speculation that Kejriwal was trying to enter the Rajya Sabha.
“These are baseless rumours. First, they used to say that Kejriwal would be joining as the chief minister of Punjab; now, they are saying that he will be entering the Rajya Sabha. The Ludhiana elections are very far off. Till then, and even during the elections, Arora will continue as a Rajya Sabha member,” said Garg. “When he wins the seat in Ludhiana, subsequently vacating the Rajya Sabha seat, the party will decide who will replace him. Till then, there is no point in speculating and spreading falsehoods—which the BJP is doing.”
The Ludhiana West contest
In the 2022 assembly election, Gogi defeated the two-time Congress MLA and cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the Hindu-dominated Ludhiana West seat.
After the AAP came into power in March 2022, the state vigilance bureau arrested Ashu on corruption charges. The Enforcement Directorate also began a parallel probe into the vigilance case against Ashu and arrested him in August last year.
Currently out on bail, Ashu will likely be declared the Congress candidate against Arora.
Arora (61) is a prominent garment manufacturer in Ludhiana and the managing director of Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited, which his father started. He is also a well-known philanthropist, running a charitable trust for cancer patients. He also holds key positions in Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana and is a member of the apex council of the Punjab Cricket Association.
Arora took to ‘X’ following the announcement to say, “Humbled and grateful to the leadership @AamAadmiParty for reposing faith in me to contest the Ludhiana West bye-elections. As someone deeply connected to my hometown, I look forward to serving my people with dedication and sincerity.”
Arora has, so far, been a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare for the third consecutive year, and his performance as an MLA has been better than most of the other Rajya Sabha members from Punjab.
His attendance in the Rajya Sabha has been 88%, whereas the state average has been 78%. Arora has participated in 80 debates, while the state average has been barely 39%. He has asked nearly 200 questions in the Rajya Sabha. Most were on central scheme implementation in Punjab. Arora also enquired about farmers, tourism in Punjab, the Ludhiana railway station, the affordability of cancer drugs, etc.
Earlier this month, Arora proposed to bring a private members bill on the prevention of black magic, witch hunting, and superstitious practices—which is currently pending the Rajya Sabha’s consideration.
In 2022, Kejriwal chose Arora, environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal, educationist Ashok Mittal, businessman Vikramjit Singh Sahney, and cricketer Harbhajan Singh, along with non- Punjab residents Sandeep Pathak and Raghav Chadha, to represent the party in the Rajya Sabha.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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