The Congress on Sunday registered a resounding victory in elections to the municipal corporations of Jalandhar, Amritsar and Patiala even as the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) accused the State Election Commission (SEC) of playing into the hands of the ruling party.
The Congress, which came to power in the State less than a year ago, won a majority of the seats in the three local bodies, wresting control from the SAD-BJP combine. The Congress swept the Patiala Corporation by winning 58 wards while the Opposition parties failed to open account. In Jalandhar, the party won 66 wards while eight went to the BJP and four to the SAD. In Amritsar, the Congress won 69 and the SAD-BJP 12.
According to an official spokesperson, polling was held amid tight security arrangements in 29 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the State.
SEC biased
SAD president Sukhbir Badal alleged that the SEC had acted in a biased manner. “Akali delegations met the SEC five times to register complaints pertaining to irregularities in poll processes but didn’t get any justice. The SEC had become a party to encouraging “goondaism'” by refusing to act on any complaint by the Opposition,” said Mr. Badal.
“We will approach the High Court with a petition that such a State Election Commission, which is dancing to the tunes of the Congress government, is wound up in public interest,” he added.
‘Cong. vindicated’
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh termed the victory in the civic bodies poll a clear vindication of the Congress policies and a resounding defeat of the Opposition’s propaganda.
“People of Punjab have once again shown their political maturity and defeated the SAD-BJP combine and AAP, both of which had been completely wiped into oblivion from the electoral landscape of the State,” he said.
Capt. Amarinder said the people had not forgotten the misrule of Akalis and hence have now handed them a crushing defeat in the local bodies’ elections.
“As far as the AAP was concerned, it had come to Punjab like a summer storm but had been completely decimated, with no apparent hope of revival,” the Chief Minister said.
“The victory for the Congress in the local bodies’ elections, which many political pundits and even the media had described as a litmus test for the party, clearly showed that the government was on the right track and the people were more than satisfied with its achievements of the past nine months,” he said.
Former chief minister Parkash Singh said, “It (poll) was a ‘votes minus democracy’ in which the innocent and helpless Punjabis were pitted against government’s muscle power State machinery.”
He alleged that Opposition parties were not allowed to contest at most place through non-issuance of NOCs and wilful rejection of nomination papers.
