Cong conquers SAD bastion
Shiromani Akali Dal a distant second, while Aam Aadmi Party fails to make a mark
Under the shadow of the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission (retd) report, which brought taint to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the ruling Congress swept the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections in Malwa, considered as the stronghold of the SAD.
The Congress routed the SADBJP alliance and opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Malwa, even as the SAD managed to make a comeback in some pockets. The AAP, which was force to reckon with in last Lok Sabha and assembly election is Malwa belt, failed to make a mark.
The Congress registered landslide victory in Faridkot, where Akalis held a rally before elections, by winning all 10 zila parishad and 55 seats out of 62 of panchayat samiti.
The seats of Bargari, where a Sikh hardliners are holding a “morcha” against the government demanding action against the Badals and police officials indicted by the Ranjit panel, also went into Congress’ kitty.
While, the Congress routed the Akalis in Badals’ bastion Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar (comprising nine assembly seats of the Bathinda Lok Sabha segment), and other nearby districts, it also successfully retained Patiala Royals stronghold Patiala, Sangrur and Fatehagrh Sahib, which once it lost to the AAP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Congress made a clean sweep in the zila parishad elections in Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib by winning all seats.
In Bathinda, trouncing SAD and AAP, the Congress won all 16 seats of zila parishad. Congress also won 117 seats of panchayat samitis in Bathinda district out of 144. SAD managed to win only 15 seats of block samitis while AAP that has three MLAs in the district won only five seats. Seven seats went to independents.
In Mansa, which has two AAP and one SAD MLA, the Congress won all 11 zila parishad seats.
In Fazilka, Congress won 11 out of 15 zila parishad seats, while SAD managed to win only four. The only solace for the SAD was from Jalalabad, assembly segment represented by SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, as the party won two of the three zila parishad seats. However, the Congress managed to win panchayat samiti polls here bagging 13 out of 25 seats.
BIG WIN IN MANN’S HOME TURF SANGRUR
The ruling Congress has bagged 123 of the 193 zones in the ten panchayat samitis in Sangrur district, the home turf of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann.
While the SAD won 27 panchayat samiti zones, the AAP could secure only three zones. The Lok Insaaf Party won a single zone while eight zones were won by independents. As many as 18 panchayat samiti candidates were elected unopposed. The results of 13 zones were awaited till the filling of the report.