Chandigarh: With the declaration of his assets worth over Rs 278 crore and his wife’s assets worth 23.5 crore - the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for Ludhiana (west) seat bypoll and Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora, has become the wealthiest candidate in assembly polls ever in Punjab till date.

Also with this declaration, Arora has overtaken Kulwant Singh, also a businessman and AAP leader and Mohali legislator, who was the richest candidate in the 2022 assembly election with assets worth over Rs 238 crore.

Meanwhile, Congress’ candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu has assets worth Rs 7.52 crore, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Parupkar Singh Ghuman has assets worth Rs 5.39 crore in the upcoming Ludhiana (west) bypoll.

Arora had filed his nomination papers after holding a roadshow accompanied by party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, State AAP president Aman Arora and former Delhi chief minister Atishi.

Speaking on the occasion, Kejriwal, cited various works done by the party candidate and said that if the people of the constituency want to choose development, they should choose AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora.

The bypoll is scheduled to be held on June 19 while the votes would be counted on June 23.

BJP NAMES JEEVAN GUPTA

Meanwhile, the BJP also named senior leader Jeevan Gupta as its candidate from the Ludhiana (west) bypoll, two days ahead of the last date for filing papers.

It may be recalled that the Ludhiana (West) seat had fallen vacant following the demise of ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi on January 11, this year. He died at his home of a gunshot after his licensed weapon accidentally went off.

A by-election to elect a new MLA from a vacant seat has to be held within six months.