Congress sweeps civic polls in Punjab

The ruling Congress has secured a thumping majority in the three municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala, where polling were held earlier in the day, while counting in the remaining seats are still underway.

Besides the three municipal corporations, 32 municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Punjab went to polls amidst security.

Congress won 66 wards out of 80 in Jalandhar; in Patiala it won 56 out of 60 wards and in Amritsar the party clinched 69 of the 85 wards.

However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) got seven seats each while eight were won by the Independent candidates in the Amritsar municipal corporation.

Earlier in the evening, Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh said the Congress was pleased with such mandate that has been given to them in the civic polls.

"Election results have been very good, we are very pleased. You cannot get a better result than this," the 75-year-old chief minister told ANI.

Earlier while celebrating Congress's lead in the counting, Navjot Singh Sidhu said, "This is the first victory that Rahul Gandhi has tasted as Congress President, third victory in our Captain's turban."

Meanwhile, SAD leader Sukhbir Badal alleged that booths were captured and their candidates were not allowed to file nominations.

"It was organised booth capturing. We told Election Commission (EC) that they are not letting our candidates file nominations. Twenty percent candidates were not able to file nominations, some nominations were rejected and some candidates were arrested but state EC did nothing," said Badal.

"We are going to High Court against this criminal conspiracy," added Badal.