In Punjab’s Gidderbaha Assembly constituency, which is set to see a fierce three-cornered fight in the forthcoming November 13 bypoll, the Congress is hoping to retain the seat against its challengers – the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP.

Gidderbaha, among the four Assembly seats going to bypolls in the state, was vacated after its MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the Punjab Congress chief, was elected to the Lok Sabha as the Ludhiana MP. Now, the Congress has fielded Warring’s wife Amrita to contest from his seat against the BJP’s Manpreet Badal and the AAP’s Hardeep Singh Dimpy Dhillon, both of whom were previously in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Though Amrita is making her electoral debut in Gidderbaha, which Warring has won in three consecutive polls since 2012, she has campaigned for her husband in the constituency in the past.

Manpreet Badal, a former state finance minister and the estranged nephew of former chief minister late Parkash Singh Badal, is an old rival of Warring in Gidderbaha. Manpreet had represented the Gidderbaha constituency four times since 1995. In 2012, he lost the seat to Warring while contesting as a candidate of his newly floated Peoples’ Party of Punjab. The Warring-Badal rivalry has often played out in public, including during the tenure of the previous Charanjit Channi-led Congress government from 2021 to 2022, when both the leaders were the members of his cabinet.

The AAP’s nominee in Gidderbaha is Dhillon, who had lost to Warring on an Akali Dal ticket in 2012. The former aide of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, Dhillon had quit the Akali Dal after being denied the Gidderbaha ticket, joining the AAP in late August. However, Dhillon is yet to win a poll, although he has unsuccessfully contested a few elections.

The Gidderbaha bypoll is crucial for the AAP, which is looking to consolidate its popularity ahead of the 2027 Assembly polls, and for the Congress to maintain its Assembly tally. The old rivalries have added another dimension to the contest, with the BJP looking to make inroads in a seat it has never won.

The Gidderbaha seat has been won by either the Congress or the SAD every poll since 1967, including by Parkash Singh Badal, who represented the seat for five consecutive terms.

Amrita Warring has described the contest as “interesting” and “challenging”. “What is life without challenges? The contest would have been more interesting had SAD leader Sukhbir Badal contested. I may be a first-timer, pitted against experienced politicians, but I have been contesting with (husband) Raja. This is our sixth election. I am loving every bit of the contest and learning new things. Every opponent teaches you new stuff,” she said.

Dhillon claimed there would be “no contest” in Gidderbaha. “It is a clear election. The way the people of the constituency are showing so much of love that even my seven future generations would not forget. I will just live for the people of this constituency. Their love is overwhelming,” he said.

Manpreet Badal said he has a “bond” with Gidderbaha. “Since I was a child, I have seen my family serving the people of Gidderbaha. Senior (Parkash) Badal was the MLA from this constituency five times. This is not a relationship of politics. This is a bond of love. It is a three-generation bond,” he said.

Three other Assembly seats in the state are headed to the bypolls on November 13, which include Dera Baba Nanak, Barnala and Chabbewal. While Barnala was vacated by former minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer after he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sangrur, the Congress’s former deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa vacated Dera Baba Nanak after he won the Lok Sabha poll from Gurdaspur. The Chabbewal seat fell vacant after AAP MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal was elected as the Hoshiarpur MP. All three seats will seen family member of the outgoing MLAs in the fray – Hayer’s cousin Harinder Singh Dhaliwal in Barnala, Randhawa’s wife Jatinder in Dera Baba Nanak, and Chabbewal’s son Ishank in the Chabbewal seat.

In the 117-member Assembly, the AAP had won 92 seats in the 2022 state elections as against the Congress’s 18.