Punjab: Ruling party performed its best in panchayat elections

Punjab: Gurjant Singh, a sarpanch candidate from Laliana village in Talwandi Sabo, made the staff at the village polling booth recount the votes multiple times, hoping that the results would be different. As Tuesday night turned to Wednesday morning, and the recount was not yielding any different results, in frustration, he started tearing the votes. A video of the incident went viral on social media. This is not an isolated incident where a candidate supported by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party has refused to accept defeat. There have been several such incidents from across the state where candidates refused to accept defeat and kept asking the polling staff to recount the votes multiple times. At some places, the vote recounting ritual went on for 16-18 hours. After all, his own political party is in power and he has the full support of the local MLA. How can he lose the election? This has never happened before, when other traditional parties held the reins of (political) power in Punjab. After all, “Jatt di aarhi vi hundi hai”, because the stakes were high… but only in general category panchayats, including the 50% reserved for women.

It is not that the candidates supported by AAP lost these elections, but they have certainly won a majority (more than 80% according to party leaders) of the 13,229 panchayats, especially those where candidates have been declared elected unopposed. Voting for these elections was held on Tuesday and re-polls were held in six panchayats yesterday. For example, AAP’s Sardulgarh MLA Gurpreet Singh Banwali has managed to secure victory for his party in 64 of the 96 panchayats falling in his constituency. The candidate supported by slain singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh lost in Moosa village and the candidate supported by SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder lost in his native village Bhunder. Both villages fall in the Sardulgarh constituency. Food Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak’s wife Urmila Devi has become the Sarpanch of Kataruchak village, while Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddiyan’s nephew has been elected Sarpanch of his native village Khuddiyan Gulab Singh.

Since these elections are not being fought on party symbols, an informal survey has been conducted by the Rural Development and Panchayat Department and the State Intelligence Department to assess the results of these elections party-wise. While the ruling AAP has reportedly won more than 80% of the seats, the election has seen a kind of decentralisation of power. The MLAs and the party leadership were allowed to be fully involved in the election management. Fatehgarh Churian MLA and former minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa says that the civil and police administration is working at the behest of MLAs and local party leaders, due to which the election results were manipulated at various places. But many candidates supported by the ruling party say that the party did not strategise and manage the elections the way the Congress or the Akali Dal did in the past… which has given them some political space. Like the case of Mansa Khurd village in Mansa, where the sister-in-law of AAP working president Principal Budh Ram lost the election. There were mistakes in the voter list, due to which re-polling was held. However, the results were not different. AAP leaders say that the opponents getting this place is not a good sign for the party, especially when four important assembly by-elections are due next month.