AAP sweeps Punjab zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls, opposition alleges misuse of state machinery
CHANDIGARH: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has swept the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections across the state. Of the 2,838 panchayat samitis, the AAP won 1531, Congress 612, Shiromani Akali Dal 445, BJP 83, BSP 28 and independents 144. The ruling party also won 218 zila parishads, while the Congress bagged 62, SAD 46, BJP 7, BSP 3 and independents 10. AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal said his party's strong showing in these polls showed that people in rural areas have put their stamp of approval on the Bhagwant Mann-led government. He said the verdict reflects peoples trust in the Mann governments politics of work spanning the Yudh Nashe Virudh (war against drugs), irrigation reforms, reliable electricity, road construction, employment, education and healthcare. Kejriwal said, Around 70 per cent of the seats in both the zila parishads and block samitis have been won by the AAP. In political terms, what is usually described as an anti-incumbency factor, I believe has instead turned into a pro-incumbency factor. People are very happy with the work done by the government and that is why they have endorsed it so strongly. Citing detailed figures, he said, There are 580 seats across Punjab that were won with a margin of less than 100 votes. Out of these 580 seats, the AAP won 261 seats by a margin of less than 100 votes, while the opposition won 319 seats. If there had been any misuse of machinery or pressure tactics, all it would have taken was a single phone call to a DC or an SDM, and those 319 seats won by the opposition could easily have gone in our favour. We did not do that. We wanted to see the true will of the people. He claimed that such close results clearly showed that the government had not interfered in the electoral process. For a ruling party, it is not difficult to swing a seat decided by one, four or five votes if there is any interference. The fact that this did not happen shows that people have genuinely endorsed the work of the present government, he said. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also said that the opposition's hue and cry was baseless, claiming that the results show that the entire process of election was transparent, free and fair. In Dhuri, Congress won by nine votes, in Jhunir it won by 30, in Bharatgarh by 40 votes and even in the area represented by former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, who indulged in a lot of tantrums to mislead people, Congress had won comfortably. If the government had indulged in high-handedness, like the previous regimes, then the Congress and SAD would not have won these seats, he asserted. Polling was held on December 14 to elect members for 347 zones of 22 zila parishads and 2,838 zones of 153 panchayat samitis. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said even AAP leaders know how these elections were fought and how the administration and police were misused like in the previous byelections. He pointed out that one senior police officer is under probe on allegations of directing his junior staff to prevent opposition candidates from filing the nomination papers. He said that despite the AAP governments abuse of power, the Congress candidates managed to do reasonably well. If the Congress could provide such an impressive fight when the odds were heavily against us, imagine what we can achieve once it will be a level playing field during the 2027, he noted, while expressing confidence that the party will stage a comeback.
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