Ashu resigns as Congress working president after fragmented party loses Ludhiana West bypoll

The fragmented and divided Congress failed to cash in on the anti-incumbency and ended up finishing second in the Ludhiana West bypoll, the results of which were declared, Ashu said he has tendered his resignation while taking moral responsibility for the electoral defeat in the by-election.

- GNS News Agency, July 1

"Since this election was solely my responsibility, and the state president and Leader of Opposition (LoP) were nowhere in sight, I have resigned as the party's working president taking moral responsibility of the defeat," Ashu told He added that he has sent his resignation to the senior Congress leadership, including Mallikarjun Kharge and Bhupesh Baghel.In Ashu's defeat, the Congress' vote share also dipped from 28 per cent in 2022 Ludhiana West Assembly polls to 27.22% now. For Ashu this was his second consecutive defeat after 2022 when he had lost to AAP's Gurpreet Gogi by around 7,000 votes. Traditionally, this urban constituency has been a Congress bastion with six wins in the past, including Ashu's in 2012 and 2017.Monday's results, however, didn't come as a shock to Congress insiders who knew it was a writing on the wall, owing to the rift that was wide open during the entire campaigning. The one faction led by Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa largely maintained distance from Ashu's campaign.Ashu, instead relied on the other faction including, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, senior MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh and Pargat Singh, who extensively campaigned for him.