Punjab Municipal Election Results 2021: Congress party sweeps local body polls

Chandigarh, Feb 17: The Congress party has bagged massive wins in the Punjab local body elections. The party bagged all the municipal corporations-- Moga, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Pathankot, Abohar, Batala and Bathinda. The Congress' win in Bathinda is the most unusual as it has been a bastion of the Akalis for a very long time.

Overall, 71.39 per cent turnout was recorded in the polls for the civic bodies for which Congress, AAP, BJP and Akali Dal are taking on each other.

However, the result of the SAS Nagar municipal corporation is likely to be announced later.

Punjab Municipal Election Results 2021 Highlights

A total of 9,222 candidates are in the fray for the elections to 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations of Abohar, Bathinda Batala, Kapurthala, Mohali, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot and Moga, 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats.

Of the total candidates, 2,832 are independents, 2,037 from the ruling Congress while 1,569 are SAD nominees. The BJP, AAP and BSP fielded 1,003, 1,606 and 160 candidates, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Punjab State Election Commission ordered repolling at three booths of the Municipal Councils of Patran and Samana in Patiala.

The repolling will be held on February 16 from 8 am to 4 pm, and counting will take place on February 17.

An official spokesperson of the State Election Commission said reports were received from the Returning Officer (RO) of Patran that some miscreants damaged the electronic voting machine (EVM) at polling booth number 11 of ward number 8.

Reports were received from the RO of Samana about damaging of EVMs by miscreants at polling booth number 22 and 23 of ward number 11.

Taking serious note of these incidents, the commission announced that the polling conducted at these booths would be nullified and repoll held under section 59(2)(A) of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994, the official said.

The Opposition parties have accused the ruling Congress of "capturing booths" and "indulging in violence".