Chandigarh, June 24 -- The Ludhiana West bypoll result was a mixed bag for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it secured third place with a vote share of 22.54%, a slight dip from the 23.95% it got in the 2022 assembly elections. Despite a marginal dip in support, party leaders said that they fought the election "against all odds," considering they had just 13 days of campaigning. Jiwan Gupta, the party's candidate, was nominated only one day before the nomination deadline, and the party faced tough challenges following the death of Vijay Rupani, the state BJP in-charge, in the Ahmedabad plane crash just ahead of the bypoll. Despite this, BJP leaders claimed their biggest achievement was the party's unity during the campaign. "Had we had more time, the results could have been better. But the key takeaway from this bypoll is the unity shown by the party despite limited time and resources," said Ashwani Sharma, former state BJP chief. He added that the united face of the party was crucial in taking on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had the full support of state machinery. Though the BJP has never won this seat since 2012 when it took it from Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the party's vote share in the 2017 assembly elections (when it was allied with the SAD) was its best, at 30.1%. In comparison, its share in 2022 had dropped to 18.5%. The BJP, despite being an underdog, brought in star campaigners like Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta , her Haryana counterpart Nayab Singh Saini, and former Union minister Anurag Thakur to boost its campaign. State BJP chief Sunil Jakhar also played an active role despite his previous absence from local bypolls and civic elections. "People are now looking for a strong alternative to the AAP and Congress. This election is a signal that the BJP must be fully prepared for the 2027 assembly elections," said Jakhar in a statement. He also praised the party's decision to field Jiwan Gupta, a grassroots worker, saying it marked a shift towards homegrown leaders rather than outsiders. Though the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) failed to make significant headway in the bypoll, securing just 8% of the vote share, the combined vote share of BJP and SAD has rekindled speculation about a possible alliance ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Together, they secured 28,526 votes, close to AAP's total of 35,179 votes, which could pose a challenge to the ruling party. "There's talk of an alliance, but the internal divisions within the SAD would make negotiations difficult for the BJP," a senior saffron party leader said. The SAD had severed ties with BJP in 2020 over the farmer protests, and the two parties fought separately in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, though their combined vote share in several constituencies exceeded that of the AAP and Congress....