People in queue to cast their votes for the Punjab polls, in Amritsar on February 14, 2021. (Express Photo: Rana Simranjit Singh)
Punjab Municipal Election Results 2021 Live Updates: In a landslide victory in the civic body elections Wednesday, the Congress won 1,399 of the 2,165 municipal wards, and six of the eight municipal corporations. The results were a big boost for Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, with the elections seen as “semi-finals” for the Assembly polls due early next year.
The outcome of the elections are significant as it comes amid farmers’ protests in the state and during the last year of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s government. Over 70 per cent of the electorate turned up to vote on February 14. (The Indian Express analyses how Punjab voted)
The results showed that the anger against the farm laws continues to singe the Akali Dal despite it severing its ties with the BJP and giving up a Union Cabinet berth.
The State Election Commission had ordered re-polling in two booths of the SAS Nagar municipal corporation after reports of irregularities during voting; the results will be declared on Thursday.
Amidst widespread support in Punjab for farmers agitating against the new agricultural laws passed by the Centre, the ruling Congress Wednesday recorded a landslide victory in the civic body elections. The party won 1,399 of the 2,165 municipal wards, and six of the eight municipal corporations, with the result of the Mohali corporation postponed for Thursday.
The BJP’s hopes that a good performance in the urban areas would ease some pressure off it on the laws were dashed. Having split from long-time ally Akali Dal, it lost even strongholds like Pathankot, Sujanpur, Batala and Abohar, winning only 49 wards. The Independents, who won from 329 wards, finished second behind the Congress. Read Kanchan Vasdev's report
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday hailed the Congress party’s victory in the state municipal polls as not just a validation of his government’s development-oriented policies and programmes but also a rejection of the anti-people actions of the major opposition parties, namely SAD, AAP and BJP.
Congratulating Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, as well as all MLAs, members and workers of the party, for the sweeping victory in the civic polls, the results of which were declared today, the Chief Minister said the people of the state had clearly and unequivocally denounced the divisive, undemocratic, unconstitutional and regressive agendas of the three parties.
The first major polls to be held in Punjab since the enactment of the farm laws had also underscored people’s angst with the BJP, which was responsible for the anti-farmer legislation with the active support of its former ally, the SAD, and the collusion of ruling AAP in Delhi, Captain Amarinder noted. More details here.
The ruling Congress seemed set to sweep the urban local body polls in Punjab leaving both Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP far behind, as the results began to trickle in on Tuesday. It’s the first election result following the farmers’ agitation and the split between SAD and BJP. The poll results are also being seen in certain quarters as a referendum on the farm laws brought by the Centre and a significant pointer to political headwinds in the state ahead of the Assembly elections next year. Besides the Congress, independents, too, fared very well in the polls while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had launched a robust campaign, performed below expectations. Click here to read our full report.
Congratulating Punjab CM Amarinder Sigh, Congress leader Deepender Hooda said that results of the Municipal Corporation election in the state are and an indication of "changing times". He also took a dig at BJP saying that the results are 'Mann ki Baat' of farmers and youths.
"This is a tight slap on the face of BJP, SAD and AAP by people of Punjab for playing with the feelings of our Anndaatas," the Punjab unit of Congress party said in a tweet.
Congress wins Majha. However, Akali's Bikram Majithia has maintained his electoral dominance in the Majitha assembly constituency as the party won 10 out of 13 wards of Majitha local body. Congress won 2. One seat bagged by an Independent.
Congress candidate Udayvir Singh Dhillon celebrates his win from Zirakpur.
In final tally, Congress wins ten wards in Kharar, SAD wins 8. AAP wins one, while eight Independent candidates win in the elections.
In Jalandhar, Independents win 54% of seats, Congress bags 43%
In a major set back to the BJP, the party lost its stronghold Pathankot to the Congress. The ruling Congress won 37/50 seats while the BJP bagged 11.
Two Municipal Corporations Pathankot and Batala and ten Municipal Councils Ramdas, Majitha, Jandiala Guru, Gurdaspur, Dhariwal, Sri Hargobindpur, Qadian, Fatehgarh Churian, Sujanpur and Patti and three Nagar Panchayats Ajnala, Rayya and Bhikhiwing and ward number 37 of Amritsar Municipal Corporation went for elections in Majha on Sunday.
So far, Congress has won 13 local bodies where as Shiromani Akali Dal has also managed to won two Majitha and Ajnala. Counting for Qadian was continued. (Input from Kamaldeep Singh Brar)
In Mohali so far, the Congress has won Kurali (9/17), Banur (12/13), Lalru (9/17) and Derabassi, while SAD has won Nayagaon (10/21). The results of Zirakpur and Kharar are awaited.
In Mansa district, Congress has won the Mansa MC, taking 14 of the 27 seats. In Budhlada MC, Independents have won 10 of the 19 seats. In Bareta and Joga, Independents have bagged all 13 seats each.
SAD has won the Nayagaon Municipal Corporation in Mohali, bagging 16/21 wards.
After a neck-and-neck fight in Kharar, Congress wins 8 seats, while SAD bags 7 and Independents win 6. (Input from Jagdeep Singh)
In Derabassi MC, Congress bags 13 seats, while SAD wins 3.
With just a year to go for the Assembly elections in Punjab, the AAP is hoping to make a mark in these local body polls, which is contested for the first time. The party is trying to present itself as an alternative to the SAD-BJP and Congress regimes. Ahead of the results, Harpal Cheema, Leader of Opposition, had said: "We have contested the municipal elections for the first time in the state. We are hopeful that the people will teach the ruling party, the SAD and BJP a lesson. Despite the excesses of the government, we will do well."
In Bathinda, Congress wins 43 seats while SAD gets 7. This is the first time in 53 years the party has won the polls in Bathinda
In early February, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal's car was damaged and four persons injured during a clash between Congress and SAD workers in the Jalalabad Assembly constituency. Earlier that day, Badal had filed nomination forms of the party candidates for the municipal polls.
Today, the Congress has won 11/17 seats, while SAD has bagged 5 and AAP 2. (Input from Raakhi Jagga)