Congress all the way; SAD, BJP wiped out in Mohali MC elections

Sanjay Bumbroo

Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 18

The Congress swept the Mohali Municipal Corporation elections with 37 of its candidates emerging victorious. The Kulwant Singh-led Azad Group bagged 10 seats, while the remaining three seats were won by Independents. The results were declared here today.

Also read: Kulwant’s exit led to SAD wipeout: Political pundits

The Congress now has a two-thirds majority in the MC House that has 50 councillors. The SAD and the BJP, which had parted ways before the elections over the three farm laws, were wiped out.

Prominent winners

Former deputy mayors Manjit Singh Sethi and Rishav Jain, and Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu, brother of Cabinet Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, were among the prominent candidates who won.

Losers

Kulwant Singh, former Mayor and head of the Azad Group, lost the elections. Kulwant Singh lost the poll from Ward No. 42 by 263 votes to his nearest rival Amrik Singh Somal of the Congress, who polled 947 votes. However, Kulwant’s son Sarabjit Singh won the elections as an Independent from Ward No. 38. Former BJP councillor Sahibee Anand and Azad Group candidate Paramjit Singh Kahlon also lost the elections.

The maximum number of votes — 1,751 — was polled by Congress candidate Baljit Kaur from Ward No. 7, while Congress’ Bharat Bhushan Saini lost the poll from Ward No. 50 by 10 votes to Pardeep Kumar (Independent).

Due to the delimitation of wards carried out in the MC last year, seven Independent candidates received only one vote while five Independents were unable to get even a single vote. As many as 1,846 opted for the NOTA (none of the above) option.

A large number of candidates (33) who contested the elections for the first time also won. Prominent among them are Harjinder Kaur Sohan and Kuldeep Kaur Dhanoa, wives of former councillors Parminder Singh Sohana and Satvir Singh Dhanoa, respectively.

Former councillors who retained their seat include Jaspreet Kaur, Rajinder Singh Rana, Kuljit Singh Bedi, Rajrani Jain, Jasbir Singh Manku, Ravinder Singh Bindra, Harmanpreet Kaur Kumbhra, Sukhdev Singh Patwari, Sarabjit Singh, Karamjit Kaur, Kulwant Kaur, Suman and Narain Singh Sidhu.

The winning candidates, along with their supporters, carried out a victory march in their respective wards. Meanwhile, highly educated women candidates, Dr Tanmeet Kaur Sahiwal of the SAD and Chhavi Sharma of the BJP, could not cross the double digit mark as they got 81 and 77 votes, respectively, in Ward No 18.

Independent candidate Nirmal Kaur, who had lost the previous elections by one vote, today won from Ward No. 15 by 203 votes.