Chandigarh: Amidst widespread support in Punjab for farmers agitating against the new agricultural laws passed by the Centre, the ruling Congress last week recorded a landslide victory in the civic body elections. The party won 1,399 of the 2,165 municipal wards, and seven of the eight municipal corporations. Earlier, the result of the Mohali corporation was postponed. But when the results were announced, the Congress registered victory in 37 of the 50 wards. With this, the ruling party registered victory in seven municipal corporations and emerged as the leading party in the Moga municipal corporation, where no party got a clear majority.
The BJP’s hopes that a good performance in the urban areas 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.
The Congress won 1,128 of the 1,815 wards in municipal councils, and 271 of the 350 municipal corporation seats, with the Akali Dal trailing at 252 and 33 respectively, the BJP at 29 and 20, and the AAP at 53 and nine. The remaining went largely to Independents. The polls held on February 14, to eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, were the first elections in the state since the farm laws were passed. The results are a big boost for Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, with the elections seen as “semi-finals” for the Assembly polls due early next year. The CM hailed the results as a validation of his government’s “development-oriented policies and programmes” and a rejection of the Opposition’s “anti-people actions”.
Soon after the results, PPCC president Sunil Kumar Jakhar gave the slogan ‘Captain for 2022’. “He (Amarinder) has proved that he is the only Captain who can steer the ship of the state in turbulent waters,” Jakhar said. 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. Dinesh Kumar, the organisational secretary of the BJP, said polls should not have been held at a time when BJP candidates could not even campaign freely. Kumar denied the results were a pointer to the Vidhan Sabha polls, while stressing that its tally was just a notch lower than that of the AAP, the main opposition.
