Cong draws blank in ZPs of 10 districts

Belying expectations of a better show in Majha,from where Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa hails,the party has failed to open its account in zila parishads of as many as three of the four districts in Majha belt — Amritsar,Tarn Taran and Pathankot.

Though the Congress has comparatively fared better in Bajwa’s own Lok Sabha constituency of Gurdaspur by clinching one zila parishad seat,the party is clearly worse-off than the 2012 Assembly polls when in bagged Batala,Dera Baba Nanak,Qadian,Dina Nagar and Fatehgarh Churian — where it boycotted the panchayat polls over large-scale rejection of nominations. The party has lost in the village of Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhwinder Randhawa and won just three of the 15 seats in Qadian from where Bajwa’s wife Charanjit Bajwa is a MLA.

In the Malwa belt too,the party has lost ground even in its strongholds. In the Patiala parliamentary seat,represented by Union Minister Preneet Kaur and former Punjab Congress chief,Captain Amarinder Singh,the party has won just two zila parishads of the total of 21 and 27 block samiti seats out of a possible 167.

In neighbouring Sangrur,represented by Congress MP Vijayinder Singla,the party managed to capture just one zila parishad of a total of 21 and 41 out of 181 block samitis. It drew a blank in the zila parishads of Bathinda,Ferozepur,Faridkot,Fazilka,Moga and Muktsar.

The only signs of recovery have been in the Doaba belt,where the party seems to have gained some lost ground. In alliance with the BSP,it has been able to woo some of its lost SC vote-bank.

The party tallied four zila parishad seats each in Jalandhar and Kapurthala districts and 46 and 63 block samiti seats,respectively. In Nawanshehar,the party has won three zila parishad and 15 block samiti seats. Though in Kapurthala,it has failed to win a single zila parishad seat,its tally is 20 out of 85 block samiti seats.

Though the fall in percentage terms is not as simplistic as SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal would like us to believe – Sukhbir had said that the Congress’ seat share that was 40 per cent in the Vidhan Sabha polls has halved to 20.8 per cent — the 40 per cent figure was pan-Punjab and represented both rural and urban areas.

If the results have alarmed the Congress,it is not telling. Terming the 2013 results as more or less on similar lines as 2008 panchayat polls,Punjab Congress Committee spokesman Sukhpal Khaira said even in 2008,the verdict was no different and yet the Congress went on to win eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the parliamentary polls held subsequently. “Unlike the State Election Commission,which is a stooge of the ruling alliance,the Election Commission of India ensures free and fair polls. As a strategy,they held the zila and block polls before panchayat polls to prevent division in Akali cadre. Add to this the fact that the verdict in panchayat polls always go in favour of the ruling party. When the CM’s own constituency saw poll violence and rigging,there is no need to read much into the results,” Khaira added.