Shafaqna India: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has emerged as the leading party in 17 of the 22 Punjab districts in the zila parishad and in 18 districts in the panchayat samiti elections conducted on December 14, the counting for which started on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal claimed the party had won around 70 per cent of the seats, calling it an “endorsement of the state government’s policies”.
However, despite leading in most of the districts, AAP has won a clear majority in only 12 of the 22 districts (in zila parishad polls) that went to the polls. Elections to the Mohali zila parishad and one panchayat samiti had been postponed. AAP won a clear majority in the zila parishads of Amritsar, Barnala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Mansa, Malerkotla, Moga, Patiala, Sangrur and Tarn Taran. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secured a majority in Bathinda and Muktsar, with party leaders insisting that they would also get a clear mandate in Faridkot.
The Congress, the principal opposition party in the state, secured the second highest number of seats, but got a clear zila parishad majority only in Nawanshahr.
In the seven districts of Faridkot, Ferozepur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Ropar, no party has a clear zila parishad mandate. In five of these districts, AAP has won the highest number of seats, while the SAD bagged the maximum in Faridkot and the Congress in Ferozepur.
AAP has emerged victorious in 218 (63 per cent) of the 347 zila parishad zones. In the panchayat samiti poll, the party won 1,529 (54 per cent) of the 2,834 zones, according to the results declared by the State Election Commission. The elections were held for 2,838 zones, but the results are yet to be announced for three zones in Gurdaspur and one in Fazilka district. While there were allegations of invalid ballot papers being used in Fazilka, the nomination papers of all candidates were rejected in the three Gurdaspur zones.
The Congress emerged second by winning 62 zila parishad and 611 panchayat samiti zones. The SAD stood third with victory in 46 and 449 zones, respectively.
The BJP, which is in power at the Centre and has been pulling out all the stops to make a government of its own in Punjab, stood at the fourth spot. It won seven zila parishad and 73 panchayat samiti zones, largely in Fazilka and Pathankot. The BJP leaders called it a “good beginning”, insisting it was the first time the party had contested the rural body elections on its own.
The BSP won three zila parishad and 28 panchayat samiti zones, and Independents 10 and 144 zones, respectively.
In all districts where either the SAD or the Congress won the panchayat samiti or zila parishad zones, AAP managed to get the second spot. The Congress is at the second position in 12 districts for panchayat samitis and the SAD in four districts.
Independent candidates have done well in Ludhiana, Kapurthala and Sangrur, while the BSP has performed well in Jalandhar and Nawanshahr.
