Stakes high for AAP after winning single seat in 2018 MC elections

The stage is set for the elections to the Municipal Corporation (MC), Ludhiana, and three municipal councils (MCs), and a nagar panchayat in the district on December 21. Besides, the bypoll to one ward each in Khanna and Samrala MCs will also be held on the same day.

The MC elections in Ludhiana were being held after a delay of almost two years, precisely 21 months, as the five-year term of the previous MC House had ended on March 25 last year. Since then, administrator’s rule had been imposed to run affairs of the state’s biggest and largest civic body, in terms of area, population and budget as well.

While the main Opposition Congress had swept the 2018 MC poll by winning 62 of the total 95 wards, the erstwhile Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance was reduced to 21 seats, and the present ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had then debuted in the civic poll by joining hands with the then local MLAs’ Bains brothers’-led Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) had merely opened an account by winning a single seat. The LIP had won seven seats while four wards had elected Independents.

The then SAD-BJP combine had ruled the MC House for two consecutive terms in 2017 and 2012 before losing in 2018 while the then ruling Congress had stormed to power in the 2018 poll after 10 years.

In the past three MC elections, the BJP had always remained a junior partner of its erstwhile ally SAD. Of the total 21 seats won by the SAD-BJP combine in 2018, the BJP had won 10 and the SAD 11 while the BJP had won 12 and the SAD 27 seats to rule the 77-member House in 2012. The SAD had won 24 and the BJP 13 seats to wrest control of the 73-member MC House in 2007.

This time, the stakes are high for the ruling AAP while the main Opposition Congress is trying hard to regain entry into the urban vote bank ahead of the next Assembly poll due in 2027. However, the BJP is contesting alone for the first time in over 23 years after parting ways with its age-old ally SAD.

While the BJP is taking solace from the recently held parliamentary elections in which it had gained lead in five of the six urban Assembly segments in Ludhiana, the Congress is optimistic in view of its winning the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat.

However, the AAP is trying to repeat its unprecedented clean sweep in the 2022 Assembly poll when Arvind Kejriwal’s party had won 13 of the total 14 Vidhan Sabha seats in Ludhiana.

The SAD, which had fared badly in the 2024 parliamentary elections and the 2022 Assembly elections as well, which it had won only one Vidhan Sabha seat in Ludhiana, is fighting against odds to make its presence felt in the civic poll.

11.62 lakh voters, 447 nominees for 95 wards

Meanwhile, the administration has almost completed the preparations for conducting the civic poll in Ludhiana and elsewhere in the district.

District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal told The Tribune here on Monday that as many as 11,61,689 electorates, including 6,22,150 male, 5,29,436 female, and 103 third gender, would decide the fate of 447 candidates in the fray for 95 wards of the Ludhiana MC.

A total of 14,730 voters, including 7,701 male, 7,027 female, and two third gender, will decide the fate of 44 nominees in the fray for 13 wards in Mullanpur Dakha; 18,603 electors, including 9,762 male and 8,841 female, will choose 15 new councillors from 54 candidates in Sahnewal; 18,583 voters, including 9,543 male, and 9,040 female, will decide the fate of 31 nominees in the fray for 15 wards in Machhiwara; and 6,067 electorates, including 3,125 male and 2,942 female, will elect 11 new members from 31 candidates in the fray in Maloud.While as many as 1,224 polling stations have been set up for 95 wards in the Ludhiana MC, 19 polling stations have been established in Mullanpur Dakha, 22 in Sahnewal, 23 in Machhiwara and 11 polling stations have been put in place for the poll in Maloud.

In Ludhiana, around 10,000 employees from various government departments have been requisitioned for the poll duty. It included around 7,800 regular staff and about 2,200 reserve employees made available with returning officers (ROs).