Newly elected AAP MLA Mohinder Bhagat administered oath by Speaker

Mohinder Bhagat, the newly elected AAP MLA from Jalandhar West, was administered oath as a legislator by Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Wednesday.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was also present on the occasion.

Bhagat defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party's Sheetal Angural by a margin of 37,325 votes to win the assembly seat in the by-poll, which was held on July 10. The result of the by-election was announced on July 13.

The by-poll was necessitated after the seat fell vacant following the resignation of Angular as the AAP legislator. He joined the BJP in March.

Bhagat had polled 55,246 votes, while Angural secured 17,921 votes.

Bhagat, son of former minister and BJP MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after quitting the saffron party last year.

He had unsuccessfully contested this seat in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections on BJP tickets.