The bypoll is another chance for the SAD to wrest its decline in Punjab politics which saw the party win just three seats in Assembly polls and getting pushed to fifth position in Sangrur by poll by polling just 6.25 per cent of votes despite alliance with the BSP.
A Congress stronghold, Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat remained with the Congress since 1999. This reserved seat fell vacant after Congress' Member of Parliament (MP), Santokh Singh Chaudhary (76), died of a heart attack during Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra in Punjab this January.