14 nominations filed for Gurdaspur bypoll; 9 on last day

Chandigarh: Congress' Sunil Jakhar and BJP's Swaran Singh Salariya were among the nine candidates who today filed their nomination papers for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll, to be held on October 11.

Today was the last day for filing of nomination papers. In total, 14 nominations have been filed for the bypoll, an official said.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on September 25 and the last for withdrawal of candidature is September 27. Counting of votes will be conducted on October 15.

"Today, nine candidates filed their nominations, taking the total number of contestants to 14," an election office spokesperson said here.

Jakhar had lost the Assembly polls earlier this year from his traditional Abohar seat and is now the president of Punjab Congress.

BJP candidate Salariya is a businessman.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded Major General Suresh Kumar Khajuria (Retd) for the bypoll to the Lok Sabha seat.

The bypoll was necessitated following the death of actor and BJP MP Vinod Khanna in April.