Three out of 13. This was the score of Punjab’s ruling AAP in the Nagar Panchayat elections held in Khanauri in Sangrur district on Saturday. The small town is located about 2 km from the farmers’ protest site along NH52, which stretches about 5 km to the Punjab-Haryana border.
Although AAP contested all 13 wards under its banner, voters preferred independent candidates. Ward 2 voter Surinder Sangroli said that Shinu Garg of Aam Aadmi Party won unopposed in Ward No. 6 after all other candidates withdrew. For the ruling party, Kuldeep Singh and Kuldeep Kaur won from 7 and 13 respectively.
Sangroli said that independent candidate Sindarjeet Kaur defeated Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Gurdeep Vehniwal by a margin of 100 votes from Ward 2. Sindarjeet got 390 votes, while Upaki Bholi Devi got only 74 votes.
“What else do they want to hear from us voters? We support the farmers in their sit-in, but the locals have suffered. “What used to be a 20-minute journey now takes an hour from village to village,” he said.
Independent candidate Harbans Lal has won from Ward No. 5 of Khanuri Nagar Panchayat
Balwinder Singh, who became an independent candidate from Ward 3, said, ‘AAP wanted me to contest the election under its banner, but I refused. I won by 125 votes. In our ward, everyone has given independent candidacy. AAP has not addressed civic issues or cleared highways. Many farmers come from Haryana to sell their crops and Ahartya is suffering. Khanuri’s scrap market has also suffered due to the decrease in customers from Haryana. Voters can send a message only by hating the ruling party, that’s why no one has taken election symbols in this ward.”
A few independents were supported by the Shiromani Akali Dal or the Congress but chose to contest without a banner. Voters have said that people tend to vote for individuals rather than parties in Nagar Panchayat elections. “The farmers’ dharna has been going on for more than 10 months now, and locals have to suffer when they go to the inner streets of the village. There is also financial loss. What is the provincial government doing? They are silent spectators. People are really angry with the ruling AAP, so the results are clear,” said a voter.
Khanuri falls in Lehragaga Assembly Constituency.
Even though the highway is blocked, the inner lanes are in a dilapidated condition, even if there is little rain, there are still problems like sewage overflow and water stagnation, the locals said.
In Sangrur, AAP received a clear message from the people, as it could only win seven of the 29 wards in the city council, while independents won 10 and Congress and BJP nine and three wards respectively.
In Munak Nagar Council, Aam Aadmi Party has managed to win 7 seats out of 13, but it has brought a majority. The party only won comfortably in Dirwa and Cheema Nagar Panchayats, where its candidates won 10 and 11 out of 13 seats respectively.
Aam Aadmi Party has won only 9 seats in Rampura Full Municipality of Bathinda District, which has 21 wards, while Independents have won 11 seats and SAD has won 1 seat. “Most of the Congress and SAD candidates won as independents, but people knew their political affiliation even though they did not contest on party symbols. Their election strategy clearly showed their party affiliation,” said Ratan Sharma, a local resident.
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