Over 59% voting in Ludhiana municipal poll

Over 59 percent of the 10.5 eligible voters exercised their franchise in the election for 95 wards of the cash-rich Ludhiana Municipal Corporation on Saturday amid reports of clashes, alleged booth capturing, rigging and firing during the day-long voting process.

Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal; and Aam Aadmi Party leaders accused the ruling Congress of malpractices in the municipal election.

Voting began for the biggest municipal body in Punjab, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation which has an annual budget of Rs 1,300 crore, on Saturday morning.

Voters started queuing up before 8 a.m., when the voting officially started. A total of 494 candidates are contesting for the 95 municipal wards.

Results will be announced on February 27. This time the contest was a trinangular one. The main fight is between the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party-Lok Insaf Party alliance.

Civic issues like water supply, lack of cleanliness, pollution, bad roads and infrastructure and poor sewerage are the main issues for common people in the election.

The Congress, which runs the government in Punjab since March 2017, had won the municipal elections in the municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala in December. It had also emerged victorious in 20 out of 29 Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats.

--IANS

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