Chandigarh, June 24 -- The Aam Aadmi Party's victory in the keenly contested Ludhiana West assembly byelection is a significant boost for the party leadership and government in the state ahead of the 2027 general assembly elections.

The AAP won the seat with a margin of 10,637 votes, larger than its winning margin in the 2022 assembly elections, in a four-cornered contest. However, the fight was more intense than the victory margin suggests. The ruling party, the first to name Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora as its candidate and launch the campaign, had gone all-out, turning the byelection into a battle of prestige by parading its political bigwigs and deploying all available resources.

While AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and c...