HEART OF PUNJAB: Ruling dispensation gave it all in high-stakes panchayat poll

Gurjant Singh, a sarpanch candidate from Laleana village in Talwandi Sabo, made the staff at the polling station in the village count the votes a number of times in the hope that the result would differ. As the Tuesday night headed towards the Wednesday dawn, and the recounting would yield no different results, in frustration, he started tearing apart the votes. A video of the incident had gone viral on the social media.

This is not a stray incident where a candidate supported by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party refused to accept defeat. Numerous incidents have been reported from across the state where candidates refused to accept defeat and kept on asking the polling staff to recount votes many times over. In some places, the ritual of recounting votes lasted for excruciating 16-18 hours.

After all, their own political party is in power and they enjoyed the unstinted support of the local MLA. How could they lose the election? This has never happened in the past when the other traditional parties held the (political) reins of power in Punjab. After all, “Jatt di Arhi vi hundi hai”, as the stakes were high… but only in the general category panchayats, including the 50% reserved for women.

It’s not that the candidates supported by AAP lost these elections, rather they have most certainly won majority (over 80%, according to party leaders) of the 13,229 panchayats, especially the ones where the candidates have been declared elected unopposed. The polling for these elections was held on Tuesday and re-poll in six panchayats yesterday.

For example, AAP Sardulgarh MLA Gurpreet Singh Banawali has managed to secure a win for his party in 64 of the 96 panchayats that fall in his constituency. The candidate backed by slain singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh lost in Moosa village and SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder-supported candidate was defeated in his native village of Bhunder. Both villages fall in Sardulgarh constituency.

Urmila Devi, the wife of Food Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, has become the sarpanch of Kataruchak village, while a nephew of Agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian has been elected sarpanch of his native village Khuddian Gulab Singh.

Since these elections are not contested on party symbols, an unofficial survey has been conducted by both the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats and the state Intelligence to assess the results of these elections party-wise. While the ruling AAP has reportedly won on over 80% seats, the election has seen a kind of decentralisation of power in the ruling party. The MLAs and the party leadership were given a full say in managing the elections.

Fatehgarh Churian MLA and former minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa says that the civil and police administration succumbed to the MLAs and local party leaders, doing their bidding, which led to the election results being manipulated at various places.

But many of the candidates supported by the ruling party rue that the party did not “strategise and manage” the elections as well as the Congress or Akali Dal would do in the past… which in turn has led to some political space being yielded to them. Like in the case of Mansa Khurd village of Mansa where the sister-in-law of Principal Budh Ram, the working president of AAP, lost the election. There were incorrections in the voter list, which led to a re-poll. The result, however, was no different.

This yielding of space to opponents, say the AAP leaders, does not augur well for the party, especially when the four crucial Assembly bypolls are due to be held next month.