Congress wins 4 Punjab municipal corporations, leading in others

Chandigarh: The ruling Congress won four municipal corporations in Punjab on Wednesday and is leading in three others as the counting for the civic body polls is underway, officials said.

The counting of votes started at 9 am for elections to 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils in the state.

The Congress has won the municipal corporations of Bathinda, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Pathankot, officials said. It is leading in Batala, Moga and Abohar.

The State Election Commission had ordered on Tuesday repolling at two polling booths of the Mohali Municipal Corporation. Therefore, the counting for the entire civic body will take place on Thursday.

Tight security arrangements have been made at the counting centres, they further said.

Over 70 per cent voting was recorded in the civic body elections on February 14.

A total of 9,222 candidates were in the fray, of which 2,832 were independents, 2,037 from the ruling Congress and 1,569 from the Shiromani Akali Dal. The BJP, AAP and the BSP had fielded 1,003, 1,606 and 160 candidates respectively.

The BJP and the Akali Dal, which walked out of the National Democratic Alliance last year over the farm laws issue, have fought the elections separately.