Barnala, October 22, 2024: Gurdeep Singh Bath, chairman of the Barnala District Planning Board, stepped down from his post on Tuesday after being denied the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket for the upcoming Barnala assembly by-election. The party has instead chosen Harinder Singh Dhaliwal as its candidate for the November 13 bypoll.
The by-elections are set to take place for four assembly constituencies: Dera Baba Nanak, Barnala, Chabbewal (SC), and Gidderbaha. The results will be declared on November 23. The Barnala seat was vacated after AAP MLA Gurmeet Singh Hayer was elected to the Lok Sabha in June.
Bath, who has served as the AAP district president since 2018, was considered a strong contender for the Barnala ticket. He claimed that both the central and state leadership had assured him he would be selected as the party’s candidate.
Expressing his disappointment, Bath accused the party of favoritism, alleging that Dhaliwal was chosen due to his personal ties to MP Gurmeet Singh Hayer.
“We’ve heard of dynasty politics, but this is something new: Dostiwaad (favoring friends),” Bath said.
Bath’s frustration stems from the long-standing relationship between Dhaliwal and Hayer, who attended the same school in Barnala and later enrolled together in a private engineering college in Banur.
