Punjab civic body poll results | AAP crosses 900 mark as Mann hails victory; BJP at 5th position

AAP registered victory in more than 45 per cent of the municipal wards in Punjab till around 7 pm on Friday, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann saying that people supported the ruling party's developmental politics and defeated the opposition's "politics of hatred". According to Punjab State Election Commission data, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 886 of the total 1,977 wards, the Congress remained at the second spot by winning 358 wards, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secured 178 wards while the BJP managed to win 153 wards in the civic body elections. Independent candidates performed fairly well in these urban local body elections by registering victory in 246 wards. The BSP won six wards. Counting of votes was still underway as the results for more than 130 wards were yet to be declared. The vote counting began at 8 am on Friday amid tight security arrangements, officials said.

With AAP's victory coming before Punjab goes to polls early next year, Chief Minister Mann said people gave their stamp of approval to his government's development works. The people of Punjab have defeated the opposition's politics of hatred, he said, adding, "They have rejected parties who indulge in divisive politics." Elections to 102 municipal bodies comprising 1,897 wards across eight municipal corporations of Mohali, Bathinda, Abohar, Barnala, Kapurthala, Moga, Batala and Pathankot along with 75 municipal councils and 19 nagar panchayats were held using ballot papers on May 26, recording a turnout of 63.94 per cent.

Out of 1,977 wards, candidates in 80 wards were elected unopposed. For the local body elections, 7,554 candidates were in the fray. The complete results of eight municipal corporations are yet to be declared. In the Dhuri Municipal Council having 21 wards, AAP registered victory in 19 while two wards were won by Independents. Dhuri is the home turf of Chief Minister Mann and he is an MLA from the Dhuri assembly segment.

In the Gidderbaha Municipal Council, AAP won 17 out of 19 wards, while the Congress won two wards. Gidderbaha is considered a stronghold of Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. However, in the Chamkaur Sahib Municipal Council with a total of 13 wards, the Congress won seven wards, followed by AAP and Independents who won three wards each. Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi is a former MLA from Chamkaur Sahib assembly segment.

The local body elections were seen as crucial for AAP, BJP, Congress and SAD, the four major political parties in Punjab, in the run-up to next year's assembly polls. AAP's showing in the civic body polls comes as a boost for the ruling party ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, with Chief Minister Mann saying that people of the state have given a stamp of their approval to AAP government's people-oriented works.

Addressing media persons here on Friday evening, Mann, while commenting on the results and trends available, said the people have supported developmental works carried out by the AAP dispensation. Prominent candidates among the winners include AAP nominee Sunny Ahluwalia from ward number 6 and AAP MLA Kulwant Singh's son Sarabjeet Singh from ward number 42, both in Mohali.

However, former health minister and Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu's son Kanwarbir Singh Sidhu lost from ward number 10 in Mohali. The civic body elections were seen as a litmus test for AAP and a referendum on Mann government's works. The chief minister said these were not the first elections since AAP rode to power in 2022 securing a massive win in the assembly polls. He said AAP secured victories be it the panchayat elections, assembly bypolls or the Lok Sabha bypoll. Mann said every time "friends in the media" used to dub those elections as semi-finals ahead of the 2027 assembly polls. The chief minister said he has been maintaining throughout that the pulse of the people is in AAP's favour and the party is going to win in the next year's assembly polls as well. The stakes were also high for the Congress to perform in the urban body elections. In some segments, the opposition party performed well like in Kapurthala and Chamkaur Sahib.

However, losing in Gidderbaha Municipal Council, a bastion of Congress leader Warring, is seen as a setback. The BJP, which was seeing these elections to expand its base and was hoping to register a stupendous victory, fell short of its expectations. It could not perform in urban segments the way it wanted, especially when it had announced it would fight the 2027 assembly elections on its own. The poll results have brought some relief to the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led SAD whose performance showed that it has retained its support base in urban segments.