The Moga byelection in Punjab on February 23 has thrown up a very unique situation, perhaps not seen anywhere else in the country earlier.
The elections were necessitated after sitting Congress MLA Joginder Pal Jain resigned from the Assembly and interestingly is now the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate for the byelection.
Joginder Pal Jain had won on a Congress ticket, but Shiromani Akali Dal chief and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh has managed his defection to the Akali Dal and hence the resignation from the Assembly.
Now bizarrely, the Shiromani Akali Dal has put up Mr Jain as the Akali candidate.
With the campaigning for the byelection starting, Mr Jain is finding it hard to pacify his supporters why he resigned from Assembly.
Mr Jain says: “I resigned for the development of Moga, we were in the Opposition for two terms. I don’t see any future for the Congress in the state. Therefore I joined Akali Dal.”
Whether this logic cuts ice with the electorate, only time would tell.