Chandigarh: The ruling Congress on Tuesday won Punjab’s cash-rich Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls with an absolute majority by winning 62 out of 95 wards.
The Shiromani Akali Dal won 11 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party got 10 seats. The Lok Insaaf Party won seven seats and its ally Aam Aadmi Party got just one seat. Independent candidates won four wards.
Over 59 per cent of the 10.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the election on February 24 amid reports of clashes, alleged booth capturing, rigging and firing during the day-long voting process.
Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party leaders had accused the ruling Congress of malpractices in the municipal elections.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hailed the civic body results, saying they were a clear vindication of the government’s policies in the past one year.
It was evident that despite their desperate attempts to deceive the people the opposition parties had failed to make a dent in the Congress government’s popularity, he added.
This time the contest was a triangular one. The main fight was between the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party-Lok Insaf Party alliance.
Civic issues like water supply, lack of cleanliness, pollution, bad roads and infrastructure and poor sewerage were the main issues for the common people in the election.
The Congress, which has been at the helm in Punjab since March 2017, had earlier won the municipal corporation elections of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala in December. It had also emerged victorious in 20 out of 29 Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats.
