Civic polls are underway in Punjab and the results are expected to be announced by Saturday night. Voting is going on in five municipalities and 44 municipalities/nagar panchayats of the state.
The total number of wards going to polls is 973, of which the opposition BJP can field candidates in 589 (60.3 per cent) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 438 wards (45 per cent).
The SAD did not participate in the November by-elections to four assembly seats due to party chief Sukhvir Singh Badal’s tankaiya status. Badal was banned from participating in political activities by the Akal Takht Sahib and was kept out of the polls by the party with the support of the party president.
Badal and other SAD leaders Completed the religious punishment Announced by Akal Takht Sahib. However, since the final decision of the Jathedar of Akal Takht is yet to come, Badal also stayed away from the campaigning of the municipal elections.
The five Municipal Corporations – Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala and Phagwara – have a combined strength of 370 wards, and the BJP can field candidates in 319 wards (86.2 per cent), while the SAD has fielded candidates in 213 wards (57.56 per cent).
It needs to be mentioned that the BJP media office has claimed that they have candidates in 367 out of 370 wards of the five municipalities but only 319 candidates are in the fray due to the ‘conspiracy’ of the ruling party.
There are a total of 598 wards in 44 municipalities/nagar panchayats in semi-urban areas. Out of which 268 wards (44.8 percent) have BJP candidates in the fray. SAD, which had the upper hand in the semi-urban areas in the past, was able to field only 225 (37.62 percent) candidates.
Out of the 44 municipal councils that are going to be elected, there are 29 wards in Sangrur and 21 in Rampura Phul of Bathinda district. Rest of the municipalities/nagar panchayats have 15 or less than 15 wards.
Municipalities
In the 95-member strong Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, BJP candidates are contesting in 90 wards, while SAD candidates are counted in 78 wards. In Amritsar, BJP is contesting in 84 out of 85 wards and SAD in 69 wards. In Jalandhar, BJP candidates are contesting in 83 out of 85 wards, while SAD is in the fray in just 31 wards. In Patiala, the BJP has fielded 25 candidates in 60 wards compared to SAD’s 26. In Phagwada, there are 50 wards and BJP and SAD are contesting in 37 and nine wards respectively.
BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliwal had earlier alleged that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had not allowed many of its candidates to file nominations, while nomination papers were also ‘improperly’ rejected on several occasions.
Senior SAD leader Parambans Bunty Rumana said, “The papers of our candidates were rejected in Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhiana and many other places. Similarly, due to the extreme negligence of the ruling party in the state, many of our candidates have not even been able to register their candidature. Our candidates are giving their best in the seats they are contesting.”
‘Invisible SAD-BJP Alliance’
Although there is no official alliance between the BJP and the SAD, the latter fielded candidates in only nine wards in Phagwara, as they did when they allied with the BJP. BJP has not fielded candidates in seven of the nine wards contested by SAD.
Similarly, in Sangrur, BJP is contesting in 22 out of 29 wards while SAD is contesting in 14. The BJP has not fielded any candidate in five of the 14 wards that the SAD is contesting. According to sources, this ‘unannounced seat adjustment’ was done by the local leaders of the two parties.
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