AAP secures clear majority in Bhikhiwind

The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Patti municipal council elections by winning nine of the 19 wards, falling just one seat short of an absolute majority. Meanwhile, the ruling AAP secured a clear majority in the Bhikhiwind nagar panchayat elections, the counting for which was conducted under tight security here on Friday.

In the Patti municipal council elections, the Congress won nine wards, followed by the ruling AAP with six seats. Four wards were won by candidates backed by the Adesh Partap Singh Kairon group, who contested as Independents despite Kairon being a leader of the Akali Dal (Punar Surjit).

The winning Congress candidates are Amandeep Kaur (Ward No. 3), Komal Kumar Jain (Ward No. 10), Sunita Rani (Ward No. 11), Balbir Kaur (Ward No. 13), Gurpreet Singh (Ward No. 14), Jagmeet Singh Bhullar (Ward No. 16), Karanbir Singh (Ward No. 17), Nishan Singh (Ward No. 18), and Manjinder Kaur (Ward No. 19).

The victorious AAP candidates are Kulwinder Kaur (Ward No. 1), Rajpreet Singh (Ward No. 6), Sukhninder Singh (Ward No. 8), Rajwant Kaur (Ward No. 9), Surjit Singh (Ward No. 12), and Harmeet Kaur (Ward No. 15).

The four Independent candidates backed by the Adesh Partap Singh Kairon group are Hans Raj (Ward No. 2), Sunil Kumar (Ward No. 4), Asha Rani (Ward No. 5) and Shina (Ward No. 7).

The Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal did not field candidates in the elections for reasons known only to the party leadership.

The winning candidates were later presented certificates by the respective returning officers. Former MLA and Congress leader Harminder Singh Gill thanked the voters of Patti town for supporting the Congress candidates.