134 candidates got less than 100 votes
Some of these candidates were polled around the score of the option of NOTA
BATHINDA : As many as 134 candidates fielded by different political parties in three municipal corporations of the south Malwa region failed to cross the doubledigit mark in terms of votes polled.
An analysis of the results of the Bathinda, Abohar and Moga civic bodies declared on Wednesday shows the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the maximum 57 such candidates, followed by Aam Aadmi Pary (AAP) at 44, the main opposition party in the Punjab assembly.
As many as 24 Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidates also had a dismal performance as they ended polling less than 100 votes in the three key municipalities of southern Punjab.
Similarly, 7 leaders of the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and two from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also failed to touch the three-digit mark.
Some of these candidates were polled around the score of the option of NOTA (none of the above).the ruling Congress set a record by capturing all three municipal corporations with a thumping majority.
In Bathinda, from where state finance minister Manpreet Badal is MLA, the Congress registered a victory on 43 of the 50 seats. The city will have a Congress mayor for the first in the political bastion of the erstwhile SAD-BJP alliance. The erstwhile allies had a full majority for the last two consecutive terms. In the 2015 civic polls, the SAD had 21 members and the BJP 8. The breaking away of the alliance brought the Akalis down to seven seats while the BJP failed even to open its account. Of its 39 candidates, 20 BJP contestants were polled less than 100 votes.
Its candidate Raj Kumar from ward-10 got 12 votes, nine less than NOTA. Manju Kaur was polled 18 whereas the 39 electors had pressed for NOTA. A large roadshow by AAP’S Punjab affairs co-in charge Raghav Chadha and electioneering by the leader of opposition with party MLAS failed to impress the city electors. Three AAP candidates could not touch the vote tally of 100 and the party finished far third on most seats in the high-stake local body.
Abohar was another shocker for the opposition parties as they suffered humiliating debacle.
The town was upgraded from a council to a corporation after 2015 when the SAD-BJP combine won the civic body. The BJP had then won 12 of the 33 seats. But this time, the Congress did exceptionally well by winning 49 of the 50 seats. AAP faced a huge embarrassment as 30 of its candidates were polled with less than 100 votes. Also, 21 Akali candidates and 17 of the BJP were restricted to double-digit score. Shailender Setia, SAD candidate from ward 41, got 18 votes against the NOTA score of 21. Another Akali candidate from ward 42 got 18 votes against NOTA tally of 15. In Moga, Congress is all set to have its mayor after nine Independents joined the party on Thursday to take its tally to 29 members in the 50-seat house. Here, the Akalis performed better by pocketing 15 seats but three candidates were polled up to less than 100 votes. The BJP managed to win one seat but its 20 candidates could not cross the 100 mark. AAP’S gain of 4 seats was overshadowed by an overall underperformance in most wards. At 11 seats the party candidates remained below 99 votes.