Municipal elections in Punjab tomorrow, voting will be done through ballot paper; EC had protested

Elections for 103 municipal bodies including eight municipal corporations will be held in Punjab on Tuesday (May 26). Necessary arrangements have been made before the elections. Giving information, the officials said that the counting of votes will take place on May 29. Voting will be held through ballot papers in 1,896 wards of municipal bodies in Punjab, starting at 8 am and continuing till 5 pm.

Officials said that elections will be held in eight municipal corporations – Mohali, Bathinda, Abohar, Barnala, Kapurthala, Moga, Batala and Pathankot. Apart from this, voting will also be held for 75 Municipal Councils and 20 Nagar Panchayats. A total of 7,555 candidates are in the fray in the local body elections to be held on May 26 in the state.

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AAP fielded the maximum number of candidates

The ruling party Aam Aadmi Party has fielded the maximum number of 1,801 candidates. At the same time, there are 1,550 candidates from Congress, 1,316 from BJP, 1,251 from Shiromani Akali Dal and 96 from Bahujan Samaj Party. Besides this, 1,528 independent candidates are also in the fray for the local body elections.

There are 35,45,567 registered voters in these municipal bodies, including 17,11,635 women. According to officials, 740 booths have been declared sensitive and 275 extremely sensitive. About 35,000 poll personnel and 32,000 police personnel have been deployed on election duty.

Government declared holiday

Officials said elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure smooth, peaceful and transparent voting. Adequate security personnel have been deployed at polling stations and sensitive places to maintain law and order during the electoral process. The Punjab government has declared May 26 as a holiday in the state to facilitate voters in voting. This holiday will also be applicable to all government offices, boards, corporations and educational institutions of Punjab located in Chandigarh.

It is necessary for all major parties to win

The local body elections are considered extremely important for all the major political parties – Aam Aadmi Party, BJP, Congress and SAD, as these elections are being held before the Punjab Assembly elections to be held in 2027. All these major parties are contesting the elections on their respective election symbols. The election campaign ended on Sunday. Punjab ministers Aman Arora, Lal Chand Kataruchak campaigned for AAP.

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At the same time, many senior leaders including State Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Wading, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, AAP MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal campaigned for the candidates of their respective parties.

Election Commission got a shock

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition challenging the decision of the Punjab State Election Commission to conduct elections to Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats through ballot papers. The court questioned petitioner Ruchita Garg for approaching the court late and said that now the election process cannot be disrupted.