E-Paper
Upper hand for AAP in Punjab’s Doaba region
In Doaba, AAP led in Hoshiarpur but faced strong competition from Congress in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Irregularity allegations emerged amidst counting.
In Doaba region, though AAP had an upper hand in Hoshiarpur, it faced a tough neck-and-neck contest from the Congress in Jalandhar and Kapurthala, trends showed. In SBS Nagar, Congress candidates comfortably managed to win more zones than AAP.
The Doaba region has 66 zila parishad zones, of which AAP won 24, Congress 18, BSP three and SAD two. Two zones went to independent candidates. Of the 548 block samiti zones in the region, 186 went to AAP, 125 to Congress, 41 to SAD, 27 to BSP and 7 zones were won by the BJP. Independents bagged 32 zones. The results of the remaining zila parishad and block samiti zones were awaited.
Of the 10 zila parishad zones in SBS Nagar, the Congress won six while four zones went to AAP. Out of 82 block samiti zones, the Congress and the AAP won 33 and 29 zones, respectively. The SAD remained victorious in nine zones, while the BSP won seven zones and two went to independent candidates.
In Jalandhar district, out of 188 block samiti zones, the results of 182 were declared, showing AAP victory in 74 zones and Congress’ win in 59. As many as 19 zones went to the BSP, 18 to SAD and 12 to independent candidates.
As far as zila parishad results were concerned, the AAP got 10 zones, followed by Congress (7), BSP (3) and SAD (1).
In Kapurthala, the results of all 59 block samiti zones were out, leaving AAP with a victory in 22 zones. As many as 17 zones went to independent candidates, mainly in Sultanpur Lodhi where Rana Inder Pratap Singh (independent MLA) fielded his candidates. The Congress, the SAD and the BSP bagged 12, 7 and 1, respectively.
Of the 10 zila parishad zones, the AAP won four and congress three, while two went to independent candidates and SAD (1).
AAP’s domination continued in Hoshiarpur district where out of 25 zila parishad seats, the ruling party won five and was leading with considerable margins on 15 seats. The Congress was ahead in four zones, while the saffron BJP was leading in one zone.
In block samitis, AAP won 61 zones, Congress 21 and SAD and BJP bagged seven each. Three zones went to independents. The counting process on more than 100 zones was still on.
Irregularity allegations
Former Congress MLA Pawan Adia alleged fraud, claiming that many losing AAP candidates were declared winners. SAD workers held a protest outside the counting centre at JR Polytechnic, alleging that their candidate from Bajraur was not being declared winner despite having polled more votes than AAP candidate. The protest was going on till the time of filing of this report.
Taking to X, Congress MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment Pargat Singh wrote, “In the final counting rounds, Congress votes were being arbitrarily rejected to engineer AAP victories. Even the recount requests by candidates were ignored and results were declared without signatures of counting agents.”
