Chandigarh: The grand old Congress party registered a historic win today in Punjab's municipal corporation local body polls. Amid farmers' protest, the ruling Congress in Punjab was leading in majority of the seats in the civic body polls, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a massive setback reportedly on the backdrop of ongoing farmers' protest over the agri laws. ALSO READ | Delhi Court Acquits Journalist Priya Ramani In Criminal Defamation Case Filed By MJ Akbar
The latest trends reveal that ruling Congress has successfully managed to bag six of the seven municipal corporations in the civic polls in Punjab for which results were declared earlier in the day.
As per the data available, the Congress party bagged Moga, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Pathankot, Batala, and Bathinda seats. News agency PTI reported that the grand old party is leading in Batala, Kapurthala and Abohar.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After the thumping victory in the MC Elections, people of Punjab have once again shown <a href="https://news.abplive.com/news/india/sourav-ganguly-s-wife-dona-files-police-complaint-against-fake-facebook-page-made-in-her-name-1444620">@capt_amarinder</a> Singh is the only option to continue on the path of development. <a >#CaptainFor2022</a> <a >pic.twitter.com/sOm5j32zmz</a></p>— Punjab Congress (@INCPunjab) <a >February 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Out of the total 50 wards, Congress won 41 wards in Hoshiarpur. The Bharatiya Janata Party finished second with victory in 4 wards, AAP won 2, Independent candidates in 3 wards while SAD bagging none.
In Bathinda municipal corporation, Congress won in 14 wards. In Dera Bassi municipal corporation, the Congress emerged victorious in 13 of the total 19 wards. Congress has registered victory in 5 out of the total 6 wards in Fatehgarh Bangles while the Shiromani Akali Dal managed to win 1 ward. In Amritsar, Congress won 40 out of total 68 wards in Amritsar while Akali Dal won 25 wards and 3 Independent candidates.
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As many as 9,222 candidates were in the fray for the elctions to 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations including Abohar, Bathinda Batala, Kapurthala, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Moga, 109 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats. According to the data available, there was 71.39 per cent of the 39,15,280 electorate polling on February 14 in the state.
The counting of votes for yet another corporation will take place on Thursday.
Not just the BJP, but other parties including Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Aam Aadmi Party (BJP) and others failed to make a mark in the elections for the municipal corporations. Speaking about Congress' stellar preformance, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar said people have rejected the negative politics of parties like the BJP, SAD and AAP.
As the state Election Commission had ordered repolling at two booths for the Mohali municipal corporation, counting for the entire civic body will take place on Thursday. According to a data shared by the poll body, 70 per cent voting was recorded in the Punjab civic body elections which were held on February 14.