Chandigarh, May 9
Only 760 out of 1,321 candidates were left in the fray for the zila parishad elections in Punjab on the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers today. At least 30 candidates were declared unopposed.

Similarly for panchayat samiti elections, 5,786 candidates were left in the fray out of 10,085 original nominations. At least 229 candidates were elected unopposed.

The state has 331 zila parishad seats and 2,732 panchayat samiti seats. Polling to elect members to 22 zila parishads and 146 block samitis will be held on May 19, while counting will take place on May 21.

In Amritsar, nine candidates were elected unopposed to zila parishad, while 12 were elected in Tarn Taran.

Nomination papers of 127 zila parishad candidates were rejected, while 404 others withdrew their candidature.

As many as 40 candidates were left in the fray for zila parishad elections in Moga, 29 in Fazilka, 22 in Fatehgarh Sahib, 38 in Ferozepur and 21 in Patiala.

Also, 265 candidates were left in the fray in Moga's panchayat samiti elections, 230 in Fazilka, 166 in Fatehgarh Sahib, 299 in Ferozepur and 352 in Patiala.

At least 269 candidates withdrew their nomination papers for the panchayat samiti elections in Patiala. Two were elected unopposed to the zila parishad and 10 to the panchayat samiti.

In Jalandhar, three out of 21 zones of the zila parishad elections have gone to SAD candidates. For Adampur block samiti, 20 out of 59 candidates withdrew their candidature.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa today accused the ruling SAD of hijacking the system as was evident from massive withdrawal of candidates across the state.

SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said the Congress was ill-prepared for the civic body elections. "What do these guys expect at the district level when their elected leaders don't even bother to enter the Assembly despite having been elected by the people."