India
oi-Madhuri Adnal
Chandigarh, February 17: The ruling Congress won six municipal corporations and emerged as the largest party in the seventh, sweeping polls of urban bodies in Punjab on Wednesday.
The party beat out corporations Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Batala and Pathankot in the February 7 civic elections, which were held against the backdrop of farmers’ agitation over the new agricultural marketing laws.
In Moga, the party needed victories in six more districts to control the municipal corporation.
Congress also won the majority of 109 city councils and nagar panchayats, officials said, adding that details would be known later.
Mohali also went to the polls, but the scrutiny will take place on Thursday, delayed due to a replay at two booths.
The result is a boost for Congress, which has been backing the protest by farmers, most of them from Punjab and Haryana, against the BJP-led government.
The head of the Punjab Congress, Sunil Jakhar, said that people have rejected the “negative policy” of parties like the BJP, SAD and AAP. He expressed his support for the re-election of Prime Minister Amarinder Singh when elections to the assembly are held early next year.
“I would like to launch a campaign, ‘Captain for 2022.’ Only he can steer the ship of state through these turbulent times when Punjab is being discriminated against by the BJP-led Center,” he told reporters.
The CM tweeted: “Today’s MC election results are the victory of every Punjabi. It is very clear that the people of Punjab want development and will not be fooled by the politics of hate and theater.”
Celebrations broke out at the Congress camp with party workers distributing sweets in many places.
The party celebrated the victory in Bathinda, which is the constituency of Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Congress won 43 districts there and SAD only seven.
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said Bathinda will now have its first congressional mayor in 53 years.
Strong slap in the face of BJP, SAD and AAP: Congress on the vote of the Punjab civic body wins
In Moga, the only corporation among the seven that did not issue a clear verdict, Congress won 20 of the 50 municipal districts. The SAD got 15, the Aam Aadmi Party 4, the Bharatiya Janata Party 1 and the independents 10.
Moga Congress MLA’s wife Harjot Kamal was among the losers there.
Previously, the municipal corporations of Moga, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda and Pathankot were run by the SAD-BJP combination, when the two parties were allies and in power in the state.
Elections to the municipal corporations of Abohar, Batala and Kapurthala were held for the first time.
Punjab’s election campaign was marred by street clashes between workers from rival parties with opposition leaders who claimed in some places that their candidates were unable to produce nomination papers.
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal thanked party workers who, he said, emerged as the “only rivals” of the “corrupt and incompetent Congress.”
“Our workers fought against unprecedented repression, money bags and government machinery and yet they emerged as a force to be reckoned with. Writing on the wall: 2022 elections underway, Congress left,” he tweeted.
AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema said his party contested civic polls in the state for the first time and would analyze its performance.
Congress won most of the municipalities by a wide margin.
The party won 49 districts in Abohar, leaving only one for Akali Dal. He pocketed 41 districts in Hoshiarpur, leaving the BJP, AAP and independents to split the difference.
In Kapurthala, Congress won 45 of the 50 districts and the Akalis won three. In Pathankot and Batala, he won 36 of the 50 districts in each corporation.
In total, 9,222 candidates disputed the ballot boxes of the eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils.
Congress ran 2,037 candidates, the SAD 1,569, the BJP 1,003, the AAP 1,606, and the BSP 160. Up to 2,832 were independents. Voter turnout was over 70 percent.
The elections, originally scheduled for last year, were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.