Farmers Movement Archive

Clean sweep for Congress in all six municipal councils of Ludhiana

The Congress emerged a clear winner as the election commission, on Wednesday, announced the results for six municipal councils in Ludhiana that went to the polls on February 14. The party’s candidates won by huge margins on most seats, even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged discrepancies in counting at some places.In all, the grand old party bagged 81 out of the total 112 seats in the six municipal councils of Khanna, Jagraon, Samrala, Raikot, Doraha and Payal. It also emerged victorious in ward number 8 of Mullanpur Dakha nagar panchayat, where bypolls were held. It, however, lost to Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the bypoll at ward number 6 of Sahnewal nagar panchayat.The SAD remained the first runner up in the district, winning 15 seats in all. It won six seats in Khanna, five in Samrala, two in Doraha and one in Payal. The party failed to bag any seat in Raikot. The party had fielded 86 candidates in all. The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, was reduced to just two seats in the entire district. Its two winning candidates were from the Khanna municipal council. The party had fielded only 45 candidates in view of the growing hostility against it in the backdrop of the farm protests on Delhi borders. A large number of turncoat leaders from BJP, in fact, fought on SAD tickets. It is for the first time in several years that the SAD and BJP fought the elections separately in Punjab. It is pertinent to mention that the SAD had severed ties with the BJP last year, over the issue of farm laws. AAP won two seats in Khanna and one in Doraha but failed to add any seat to its kitty from the other municipal councils. While the AAP had fielded candidates on 109 seats, Bahujan Samaj Party was vying for 13 seats. The BSP did not win a single seat. As many as 123 independents had also fought the election, of which 11 emerged victorious. Of these, four independents were from Khanna, five from Jagraon and one each from Doraha and Payal. AAP alleges discrepancies in countingMeanwhile, the AAP alleged discrepancies in the counting process in Jagraon and Raikot. The party staged protests and blocked the Raikot main road and National Highway-5 near Jagraon for over two hours, seeking recounting of votes. The protest was still going on outside the counting centre in Jagraon at the time of filing of this report.SAD’s Jagraon unit president Gurcharan Singh Grewal said, “The Congress party used every unethical tactic to threaten our candidates, but our 16 candidates still came out victorious. Our councillors will continue to serve the public and we will actively perform the duties of opposition in the municipal councils.”Meanwhile, deputy commissioner Varinder Sharma said the counting remained largely peaceful and there was no report of any untoward incident from any part of the district.The counting had begun around 9am and as soon as the results were declared, Congress supporters burst into celebrations, and danced to the beats of dhols and took out victory rallies. Some of the vehicles, used by the party during its road show, were seen bearing the flags of farmers union.

Hindustan Times

18-02-2021

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