Congress dominant in Jalandhar MC; AAP draws a blank, turnout drops

In elections that saw a 58% turnout, a drop of five percentage points over the 2012 polls, Congress won a dominant 66 seats of 80 in the Jalandhar municipal corporation House on Sunday.

The SAD-BJP was reduced to a distant second with 12 seats (SAD 8, BJP 4) and Independents bagged the remaining two. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that contested in 42 wards drew a blank. With elaborate security arrangements in place, polling at all 552 booths was peaceful.

Interestingly, candidates had not made development an issue in these elections. The Congress has maintained the tradition of the ruling party also stamping its dominance on civic body polls.

Poor development and unfulfilled projects that marred the functioning of the SAD-BJP rule in the House was also a factor that helped the Congress win by a massive margin. Pending projects include a solid waste management plant, getting rid of the stray dog menace, introduction of city bus service and shifting of dairies from the city.

Police commissioner Parveen Kumar Sinha expressed his gratitude towards all political parties and thanked all political parties and the police for enabling free and fair conduction of voting.

Deputy commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma also congratulated voters for ensuring peaceful conduct of elections.

The Congress has also won municipal committees of Bhogpur and Goraya and the nagar panchayats of Bilga and Shahkot. In Goraya, it won 10 of 13 seats, with the SAD-BJP winning two and one going to an Independent.

In Bilga nagar panchayat, it won eight of 13 seats against the SAD-BJP and independents that won three and two seats, respectively. All political parties other than Congress lost badly in Shahkot nagar panchayat with no seats to their credit. The party won 12. From municipal committee Bhogpur, Congress won eight seats, while the SAD-BJP got five seats.