Punjab byelection: Voting in Jalandhar West reserved Assembly constituency on July 10 after Sheetal Angural’s resignation

PTC News Desk: In the wake of the resignation of Sheetal Angural, Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab Sibin C has announced the date for the byelection in the Jalandhar West (SC) constituency. As per the schedule issued on Monday,  the voting would take place on July 10. 

The deadline for filing nominations has been set for June 21 (Friday). The papers would undergo scrutiny on June 24 (Monday), while candidates have time till June 26 (Wednesday) to withdraw their nominations. The result would be announced on July 13 (Saturday) following the vote count.

Sibin C said the mode code of conduct had been enforced in Punjab’s Jalandhar district starting from Monday. It would remain in effect till the conclusion of the election process on July 15 (Monday). 

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What necessitated the need for byelection?

Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has accepted the resignation of Jalandhar West MLA Sheetal Angural, who switched from the AAP to the BJP two months ago, leading to a bypoll in this key Doaba segment.

Sheetal Angural had submitted his resignation on March 28, a day after joining the BJP, but later he wrote to the Speaker requesting to withdraw his resignation from the Assembly. However, a notification issued by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat on Monday said: “It is notified that consequent upon the acceptance of resignation of Sheetal Angural, MLA, the seat of 34-Jalandhar West (SC) Assembly segment in the Punjab Legislative Assembly has fallen vacant with effect from May 30.”

With Angural’s resignation, the number of AAP’s elected MLAs has decreased from 92 to 91 in the 117-member House.