In Dera Bassi, SAD, AAP fail to open account

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, September 22

The ruling Congress on Saturday swept the zila parishad (ZP) and block samiti elections. Congress candidates won all 22 block samiti and four ZP seats, The SAD-BJP alliance and AAP failed to open an account.

Meanwhile, the SAD-BJP alliance has accused the state government of using strong-arm tactics to achieve the victory.

Dera Bassi constituency MLA NK Sharma rued delay in declaration of results, which went in favour of the Congress. He also accused the poll panel of becoming party to the Congress conspiracy to defeat the voice of the people in the rural polls.

Congress’ victory in the Dera Bassi block came amidst allegations of poll rigging and booth capturing, besides partial attitude of the election panel.

Passing its first litmus at the grass root level after coming to power in March last year, the win has further strengthened the Congress in the Dera Bassi subdivision, besides giving a boost to the party cadre.

The SAD-BJP alliance, which lost the Assembly elections after ruling Punjab for a decade, seems to have lost its ground while the AAP, a first timer in the rural poll, failed to make a mark despite being the main Opposition party in the state legislature.

Jubilant over the party’s victory in the rural polls, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Deepinder Singh Dhillon said the verdict given by the people of the Dera Bassi block was encouraging. “This shows that we are on the right track and have lived up to the expectations of the people,” he added.

Acting upon the allegations levelled by the SAD-BJP of declaring the results late, Paramjit Singh, SDM-cum-Returning Officer, Dera Bassi, said there was no delay and all results were declared only after finalising the counting and completing other paper work.