SAD gets its sole councillor in Patiala MC

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today opened its account in the Patiala municipal corporation elections by winning a ward that went for a repoll, an official spokesman of the state election office said today.
SAD candidate Ramanpreet Kaur won from 37 number ward of the Patiala MC where the repolling took place today.
She defeated her nearest rival Congress nominee Meenakshi Kashyap with a margin of 471 votes.
The State Election Commission, Punjab had ordered a repoll at the booth number 3 of the ward number 37 of the Patiala MC after EVM was found damaged during the polling on December 17.

With this victory, SAD secured presence in the 60 wards of Patiala MC. The Congress has won 59 wards in the Patiala MC.s
Meanwhile, SAD claimed that the party's stand that the Congress party had indulged in violence and booth capturing during MC polling to save itself from "humiliating" defeat in the MC elections had been proved right with the SAD candidate winning the repoll.

In a statement, former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said, the election, which the SAD candidate won with a "huge margin", also reflected the ground reality in Patiala.
"It also proves if the State Election Commission countermanded the election as demanded by the SAD-BJP combine and conducted the election afresh, the Congress party would have suffered a crushing defeat," he claimed.

The SAD leader said the re-election had exposed all Congress' "claims" of free and fair polls.