Hailing the Congress party’s spectacular victory in the state municipal polls, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Wednesday said that it was as not just a validation of Government’s development-oriented policies and programmes but also a total rejection of the anti-people actions of the major opposition parties — SAD, AAP, and BJP.
Congratulating Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar, as well as all MLAs, members and workers of the party, for the sweeping victory in the civic polls, the Chief Minister said that the people of the state had clearly and unequivocally denounced the divisive, undemocratic, unconstitutional, and regressive agendas of the three parties.
He thanked and congratulated the people for defeating the negative and vicious forces that are out to ruin Punjab and its future.
“The first major polls to be held in Punjab since the enactment of the draconian Farm Laws had also underscored people’s angst with the BJP, which is responsible for the anti-farmer legislation with the active support of its former ally, the SAD, and the collusion of ruling AAP in Delhi,” noted Capt Amarinder.
He said that all these parties had shamelessly trampled the farmers’ rights, with the clear aim of destroying Punjab.
With SAD, AAP, and BJP not even a close second to the Congress and trailing even independent candidates in some wards, “the pro-governance and pro-progress verdict of the urban voters of Punjab is a clear endorsement of their negation of their loathsome political ideologies”, said the Chief Minister.
In the final count, the Congress had won 1199 of the 1815 wards (municipal councils) and 281 of the 350 municipal corporation seats, with SAD trailing at 289 and 33, BJP at 38 and 20, and AAP at 57 and nine, while the remaining went largely to independents and BSP (K) and CPI winning in 13 and 12 wards respectively.”The swing in favour of the Congress in comparison with the 2015 municipal corporation elections in Bathinda, Hoshiarpur, Moga, and Pathankot districts is manifest in the fact that from 11 seats back then, the party’s tally has improved to a whopping 149 now. Similarly, in the wards, from 356 in 2015, the Congress score now has gone up to 1480,” he said.
“With these results, all these parties have got a foretaste of things to come in the Assembly elections, due just a year from now,” said Capt Amarinder.
BJP, AKALIS, AAP WILL AGAIN FACE BIG JOLT IN 2022 ELECTIONS: MOHINDRA
Stating that the state’s electors have posed full faith in Congress Government’s development-oriented policies by awarding party candidates huge victory coupled with gigantic margins, Punjab Local Bodies Minister and senior Congress leader Brahm Mohindra on Wednesday said that the fate of other parties — including the SAD, BJP, and AAP — would witness the same results in the 2022 state assembly elections.
The Minister said that the landslide victory has proved that the people have expressed a positive attitude towards the steps and decisions taken by the Capt Amarinder Singh-led State Government in the public interest.
“With this massive victory, now our responsibilities have enhanced further. I am assuring, the Punjab Government would continue its urban development work on a war footing and would win the assembly elections in 2022 just like these civic elections,” he said, adding that the public outrage has completely wiped out the BJP from Punjab.
PEOPLE STAMPED THEIR APPROVAL IN FAVOUR OF CAPT’s DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: JAKHAR
Terming the landslide victory in local bodies’ polls as an strongest endorsement of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s ability to negate grave central efforts to destabilize Punjab, the state Congress president Sunil Jakhar said that maintenance of amity and communal harmony would be the central plank of Congress Government to steer the State on part of unprecedented growth, development, and prosperity.
Jakhar, addressing a press conference after declaration of poll results, underlined the trust reposed by Punjabis in Capt Amarinder’s leadership which “is key to sustain the era of all round progress unleashed in the Punjab in the last four years”.
“With this landslide verdict, the Punjabis have categorically rejected the divisive and negative policies of SAD, BJP, and AAP,” said Jakhar while terming the win as a win of people of Punjab and party workers.
CONG SECURED WIN BY RESORTING TO STATE-SPONSORED REPRESSION: SAD
Accusing the Congress party of securing a win in municipal elections by resorting to “State-sponsored repression”, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday lauded the Akali workers for asserting themselves boldly and ensuring SAD emerged as the main opposition to the corrupt and incompetent Congress party.
“Even as SAD had emerged as principal opposition party in Punjab post municipal elections despite going alone for the first time, AAP has been completely eradicated in the state. SAD candidates gave a tough fight to the Congress across the state with almost all seats witnessing a direct contest between the Congress and SAD,” said the party spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema, adding that SAD’s “vote share has also increased in urban areas”.
Cheema said that in direct contrast, AAP had been pushed to the fringes of Punjab politics, as it “has secured the number four position”.
Cheema asserted, “The civil machinery and the Punjab Police, it seems, has won the day for the Congress along with equal help from the State Election Commission (SEC). More than 500 nomination papers of SAD candidates alone were rejected along with a couple of hundred of other parties in an attempt to make the entire election process a nomination process. This alone calls for sacking of the SEC.”
AAP DONE WELL IN ITS FIRST MUNICIPAL POLLS: CHEEMA
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday said that this was the first time that the party had contested the municipal elections, and the results are a “good sign” for the party. “The party’s base in urban areas has increased and the party’s vote share has increased significantly. This is a good sign for the party that AAP will be even stronger in the urban areas by 2022,” said senior AAP leader and the Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema.
Thanking the voters for giving a chance to AAP candidates, Cheema said that the winning councilors would serve the people as ‘sewadars’. “The results are a positive sign for the forthcoming assembly elections in 2022. It shows that AAP would win the forthcoming assembly elections by a landslide victory. The party must have had some shortcomings in contesting the local body elections for the first time, and these will be rectified after self-assessment,” he said adding that the work would be done to strengthen the party before the forthcoming assembly elections.