The ruling party Congress has won six of Punjab’s eight municipal corporations so far, including Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Batala, and Pathankot.  The final results of the elections to Batala are still awaited.

In the final count, the Congress had won 1,199 of the 1,815 wards (municipal councils) and 281 of the 350 municipal corporation seats, with SAD trailing at 289 and 33, BJP at 38 and 20, and AAP at 57 and nine, while the remaining went largely to independents and BSP (K) and CPI winning in 13 and 12 wards respectively.

The outcome of these elections is significant as it comes amid farmers’ protests in the state and during the last year of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s government. This is the first time the MC elections, which were postponed from last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have been held during the Assembly election year, putting additional pressure on political parties to perform well. Over 70 percent of the electorate turned up to vote on February 14.

For the ruling party Congress, the elections are being seen as a battle of prestige. Meanwhile, the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) face the challenge of contesting independently after two decades of an alliance. The AAP, which is contesting the municipal polls in the state for the first time, is looking for a resurrection.

The State Election Commission on Tuesday ordered re-polling in two booths of the SAS Nagar municipal corporation after reports of irregularities during voting; the results will be declared on Thursday. The order came a day after repolling was conducted in three booths of the Patran and Samana municipal councils in Patiala after miscreants damaged electronic voting machines.

The BJP has lost all 29 seats in Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency of BJP MP Sunny Deol in the Punjab municipal elections. The Congress has won all the seats.