Campaigning ends, stage set for Punjab municipal polls

Bathinda: Campaigning for the May 26 municipal elections came to an end on Sunday evening, with candidates taking part in road shows in a bid to reach the maximum number of electorates. The elections to 104 municipal bodies, including 8 municipal corporations, are being seen as the biggest electoral exercise ahead of the state assembly elections to be held early next year. The Aam Aadmi Party is contesting in a maximum 1,801 wards, followed by 1,550 candidates of Congress, 1,316 from BJP and 1,251 from the Shiromani Akali Dal. Senior functionaries of all the political parties, including Aam Aadmi Party state president Aman Arora, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal and Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu campaigned for candidates of their respective parties.During scrutiny, the ruling party was accused of putting pressure on returning officers to reject nominations of candidates from other parties, which trigerred protests. In Faridkot, the Shiromani Akali Dal held a protest march against the arrest of SAD district president Satish Grover and constituency in charge Parambans Singh Romana. Earlier, Hem Raj Goyal, BJP candidate from Bathinda's ward number 16, had written to the State Election Commissioner, DGP, the district election officer and the SSP to declare the ward as ‘hypersensitive' to prevent rigging. The elections are also witnessing family members pitting against each other in some wards of Barnala and some other places. Is, after Chabbewal, MP Meet Hayer to head towards assembly route, feel electorates As Aam Aadmi Party's Hoshiarpur MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal has been appointed as constituency in charge for Phagwara assembly constituency, indicating Chabbewal to be fielded from the constituency in assembly elections, the electorates in Barnala say Sangrur MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer campaigned very hard only in Barnala, which is part of Sangrur parliamentary constituency, in such a way that he might be preparing to contest the next assembly elections from Barnala as he represented Barnala on two occasions in 2017 and 2022 before being fielded in Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Upon being asked, MP Meet Hayer neither confirmed nor denied it. Hem Raj Goyal, BJP candidate from ward number 16 in Bathinda, has written to the State Election Commissioner, DGP, District Bathinda Election Officer and SSP to declare the ward as hypersensitive, stating that he has reports that some people are making plans for rigging. MSID:: 131292170 413 |