Punjab Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti Polls: Congress in the Lead

The Congress inches towards a win as counting remains underway for the Punjab Zila Parishad & Panchayat Samiti Polls

Counting of votes underway in Punjab.

(Photo Courtesy: ANI)

The Indian National Congress, Punjab’s ruling party, is inching towards victory in the Zila Parishads and Panchayat samitis elections. While the counting of votes is still underway, the Congress has already bagged 43 Panchayat samiti seats in Patiala, 7 in Bhatinda, 12 in Amritsar and is leading in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, reported The Tribune.

Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal has won 4 seats in Patiala, 2 in Bhatinda and 4 in Amritsar.

Akali Dal was left defeated at its home turf of Muktsar as the Congress won 10 of the 13 Zila Parishad zones.

Meanwhile in Gurdaspur, the Congress won 154 panchayat samiti zones out of a total 213. In Zila Parishad, the Congress won 15 of the 25, seats and is leading in the rest, reported The Tribune.

Counting of votes is taking place amid heavy security after the Congress & Akali Dal workers clashed on Wednesday. Over 900 police personnel have been deployed at 11 counting centers to ensure law and order is maintained. 

On 19 September, the voting day, former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and a few other Akali workers were booked for assault and criminal intimidation in Muktsar. They were booked after a Congress worker had alleged that he was thrashed by them. Opposition Akali Dal, meanwhile, accused the Congress of booth capturing and bogus voting.

“Booth capturing is taking place and as an MLA, I will not tolerate this in my area. Police were not performing their duty. The SSP does not take my phone calls. What kind of elections were these, where booths were captured and nomination papers of Akalis rejected?” 

Parkash Singh Badal, reported <i><a href="https://www.news18.com/news/politics/punjab-zila-parishad-panchayat-samiti-election-results-congress-heads-for-a-big-win-after-bagging-most-seats-1885411.html">News18</a></i>.

A spokesperson of Punjab State Election Office said an average of 58.10 percent voting was seen in these polls. The highest polling of 71.66 percent was seen in Mansa district, while the lowest was in Tarn Taran at 43.77 percent, reported News18.