Farmers Movement Archive

Counting of votes for 7 MCs, 109 councils begins in Punjab

The counting of votes for the local body elections in Punjab, a precursor to the state assembly elections early next year, began at 8am on Wednesday.The results for the 2,252 wards of seven municipal corporations of Bathinda, Abohar, Batala, Moga, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Pathankot and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats are expected to start trickling in from most areas by afternoon. The State Election Commission (SEC) has made all arrangements for the smooth conduct of counting , including the deployment of micro-observers in sensitive and hyper-sensitive wards.“The commission has ordered the deputy commissioners to depute IAS, PCS or other senior officers as micro-observers for vote counting in such wards. These micro-observers will submit their reports through observers,” a SEC spokesperson said. Over 71% voting was recorded in Sunday’s elections to 117 municipal bodies amid stray incidents of skirmishes at some places.Repolling was held in three booths of Patran and Samana municipal councils on Tuesday. Counting for the Mohali municipal corporation has been deferred to Thursday after the poll panel ordered re-polling in two booths.A total of 9,222 candidates were in the fray for the civic elections that saw all major parties, particularly the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), go all-out to try and send a warning to the ruling Congress. The SAD and the BJP fought the elections separately after the former left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the farm laws passed by the Centre last year. The BJP, which leads the government at the Centre, faced opposition from farmers across the state.

Hindustan Times

17-02-2021

Chandigarh