NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Facing state Assembly elections in about a year’s time, the ruling Congress in Punjab recorded morale-boosting performance in the elections to the municipal corporations in the state throwing the BJP, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a NDA partner till recently, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the wayside.
With the counting of votes for the Mohali municipal corporation deferred till Thursday due to by-polling in two wards, the Congress has captured all the remaining seven municipal corporations and in most of the cities with massive mandate.
The state’s ruling party was victorious in Bathinda, Abohar, Batala, Moga, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Pathankot, while the results for Mohali will be announced on Thursday.
The Abohar Municipal Corporation was near-perfect for the Congress, with the party winning 49 out of 50 wards, with the SAD winning in one ward.
The SAD is a former ally of the BJP whose government at the Centre passed three contentious farm laws last September, leading to protests by farmers belonging mostly to Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana. Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s party announced its split from the BJP in protest against the three laws.
The fight for the municipal corporation in Moga was a close one as the Congress won 20 wards against SAD’s 15, with the remaining 15 split among the BJP, the AAP and the independents. Punjab’s ruling party also won 41 and 37 wards in Hoshiarpur and the BJP’s bastion of Pathankot respectively while in Bathinda, the Congress won 43 out of 50 wards, with the other seven going to the SAD.
The result in Bathinda is significant as it is the Lok Sabha constituency of SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was the party’s only representative in the central government before quitting in the wake of the passage of the agricultural laws. Congress leader and Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal is the MLA from the Bathinda urban assembly seat. Badal is the cousin of SAD president and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Lok Sabha MP from Firozpur and the husband of Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The result is historic also because this is the first time in 53 years that Bathinda will get a Congress mayor. “History has been made today. Bathinda will get a Congress Mayor for the 1st time in 53 years! Thank you to ALL Bathinda residents,” tweeted Manpreet Singh Badal.
Delighted by results of the civic body polls, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday has launched “Capt for 2022” campaign. “The message is loud and clear. People have given their mandate for Capt Amarinder Singh as the government near its term early next year. It is for everyone to see,” said Jakhar.
(Manas Dasgupta)
