SAD-BJP sweeps Zirakpur, Dera Bassi, Lalru
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service
Dera Bassi, February 25
The SAD-BJP alliance registered a landslide victory by winning 58 of the total 67 wards in Zirakpur, Dera Bassi and Lalru civic bodies here today.
Barring a few incidents of scuffle, protest and exchange of heated arguments by supporters of candidates in Baltana, Bhabhat and Lalru, the elections remained peaceful in the sub-division.
The Congress was decimated from these civic bodies as none of the party candidates could emerge victorious.
Three Independent candidates won in Zirakpur, a stronghold of Akali MLA NK Sharma. The Independents managed to win despite the fact that the MLA got his 11 close associates, including his two brothers, win unopposed. The SAD candidates won from 21 wards while BJP candidates logged win in seven wards. The Congress failed to open account in Zirakpur.
There was a scuffle in Ward No 4 among supporters of Sunita Jain, an Independent candidate, and Manisha Malik, the SAD candidate. The police had to use force to disperse the supporters. The trouble had started when Jain’s supporters alleged that Malik’s supporters had hired ‘fake’ voters.
Similarly, supporters of woman Independent candidates raised objection to the entry of Nachhatar Singh, an unopposed BJP municipal councillor from Ward No. 24, in a polling station of Ward No. 28. A PCR vehicle reached the spot to control the situation.
In Dera Bassi, the SAD-BJP made a clean sweep by winning the seats from all 19 wards. Among the winners, 11 were from SAD and the remaining from the BJP.
The Lalru Nagar Panchayat, which went to the polls for the first time after it came into existence, saw the SAD-BJP alliance capturing 11 wards while six went to Independent candidates. The Congress candidates had to taste defeat here even as the party leaders had been campaigning here sincerely. While SAD candidates won from eight wards, BJP candidates recorded win in three wards.
Congress leader Manpreet Kaur Dolly, daughter of late Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, a former SAD general secretary, and her supporters held a protest in front of the office of the returning officer (RO), Lalru. The police had to whisk away the RO and his team by helping them scale the boundary wall of his office. She leader accused the RO of favouring a SAD candidate in Ward No. 9.
Employees of Nahar Group of Industries, Lalru, had a tough time casting their votes as the management sanctioned them leave just 20 minutes before 5 pm, the time when polling was to end. The issue was brought to the notice of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
Meanwhile, supporters of winner candidates celebrated the victory by busting crackers, distributing sweets and organising processions amid beating of drums in their respective wards.
Election staff van gheraoed
Up in arms against the highhandedness of the SAD-BJP alliance, residents of Ward No 28 in Zirakpur gheraoed the official van of election staff carrying EVMs to the office of the Returning Officer this evening. The residents were demanding repolling on a booth. The RO, Sukhminder Singh, assured them that their demand would be brought to the notice of the election commission.
