Theruling Congress party has registered its big win today in the Punjab CivicPolls as it won all the seven municipal corporations in Punjab, while theresults of the Mohali municipal corporation is awaited for tomorrow.
Thecongress has won Abohar, Bathinda, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Moga andBatala. The polls were held on February 14 for 2,302 wards in 117 civic bodiesin the state, including eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councilsand nagar panchayats. A total of 9,222 candidates contested the polls.
TheSAD holds the second position in the local body elections in the state, thoughit is way behind the Congress. However, due to the anger against the centralfarm laws, the BJP’s performance has been rather dismal. Meanwhile, the reasonfor AAP’s poor performance is yet not clear as the party leaders were quietvocal about the issues of Punjab.
Theresults of the elections declared today are significant as it comes amidfarmers’ protests and is seen as the semi-final for the Punjab assembly pollsin 2022. Though the ruling Congress led by Capt Amarinder Singh has confirmedit has strong hold in most of the districts, it has also sent a clear messageto the opposition parties especially the BJP that they are ‘not welcome’.
Inthe final count, the Congress had won 1199 of the 1815 wards (municipalcouncils) and 281 of the 350 municipal corporation seats, with SAD trailing at289 and 33, BJP at 38 and 20, and AAP at 57 and nine, while the remaining wentlargely to independents and BSP and CPI winning in 13 and 12 wardsrespectively. Meanwhile in Jalandhar, the AAP failed to open its accountdespite having fought the elections from 72 wards.
Thiscount is apart from the three polling booths of municipal councils of Patranand Samana in Patiala where repolling was held on Tuesday following reports ofEVMs being damaged on February 14.
Theswing in favour of the Congress in comparison with the 2015 municipalcorporation elections in Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Moga and Pathankot districts ismanifest in the fact that from 11 seats back then, the party’s tally hasimproved to a whopping 149 now. Similarly, in the wards, from 356 in 2015, theCongress score now has gone up to 1480.
InMoga, no political party has scored a majority; the Congress won 20 of the 50municipal wards in Moga, the SAD 15, the AAP 4, the BJP 1 and Independents 10.
Historic Win inBathinda
After53 years, Congress won from Bathinda. The win is termed as historic asShiromani Akali Dal since long had a strong hold here. Harsimrat Kaur Badal ofShiromani Akali Dal (SAD) represents Bathinda in Lok-Sabha. The SAD recentlyleft their long term allies Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) due to theirdifferences regarding contentious farm laws.
ManpreetSingh Badal, the Finance Minister of Punjab who is also a cousin of SukhbirSingh Badal- the arch rival of CM Singh, tweeted, "History has been madetoday! Bathinda will get a Congress Mayor for the 1st time in 53 years! Thankyou to ALL Bathinda residents. Congratulations to the people of Bathinda for aspectacular victory. Kudos to all Congress candidates and workers, who toiledfor this day."
'Huge' setback to BJP
Despitethe BJP holding the mayor post in Pathakot, it could win only 11 seats,however, the Congress clinched Pathankot by a big margin. The results came as a'huge' setback to BJP for their stance on the farm laws that the people ofPunjab are protesting against and spearheaded protests across the bordersaround Delhi.
Major embarrassments
Themajor embarrassments have been the losing of the election by the wife ofCongress MLA Harjot Kamal and wife of BJP leader Tiksan sood from Hoshiarpur.
Independentcandidates upend the major political parties in Jalandhar
Theindependent candidates won 59 out of total 110 wards, and Congress trailedbehind winning 47/110 wards, the parties BSP, BJP, and SAD languished in lowersingle-digits i.e. two and one each respectively, while AAP miserably failedwoo voters.
Districts wise listof winning parties/candidates
