Congress sweeps Punjab local body polls

The Congress party  has made a clean sweep of Punjab's seven municipal corporations in the state local body polls. The party bagged all the bodies for which the results were declared on Wednesday: Moga, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Pathankot, Batala, and Bathinda - the last one also being the most stunning result of the day as it was after 53 years that the city was returning to the Congress fold. Mohali's results will be declared on Thursday. 

The Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency is represented by Harsimrat Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which only recently parted ways with long-time ally BJP following the unrest kicked up among the state's farmers by the Centre's three new farm laws. Congress MLA and state finance minister, Manpreet Singh Badal, represents the Bathinda urban assembly seat. He is also a cousin of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, making the polls a prestige battle this time.

The Abohar Municipal Corporation was near-perfect for the Congress, with the party winning 49 out of 50 wards. In Bathinda, it won 43 of the 50 wards. In Kapurthala it left behind SAD, which won three wards, by 40. The party's Punjab chief, Sunil Jakhar, said people had rejected the "negative politics" of parties like the BJP, SAD, and AAP. "We contested on the development agenda. This victory will embolden our workers to work hard," Jakhar told reporters. Up to 109 municipal councils and nagar panchayats and seven municipal corporations went to the polls on February 14, witnessing 71.39 per cent turnout. Opposition parties have accused the ruling Congress of "capturing booths" and "indulging in violence".