BJP’s individual performance has seen a decline since 2002 when it won 45.9% of its seats. The number fell to 32% in 2012 and to 21.2% in 2018.
After a gap of 10 years, the SAD-BJP alliance was defeated in Ludhiana Municipal Corporation polls as the alliance managed only 21 out of the 95 seats it contested. In the last 10 years, the BJP has witnessed a continuous decline in the Ludhiana civic polls while SAD has faced highs and lows. In the results declared on Tuesday, 11 SAD candidates won in 48 seats the party had contested while BJP could win only 10 out of the 47 seats it contested.
The strike rate of the SAD-BJP combine stood at 22.1%, against the 52% in 2012 MC polls in which SAD had won 27 out of the 38 seats it contested while BJP won 12 out of the 37 seats. In 2012, Ludhiana had a total of 75 wards. In 2012, the SAD-BJP combine had gained majority in the House. Two independent councillors had joined SAD while three had joined BJP, thus taking the combined tally to 44. In 2007, SAD-BJP had gained majority after winning 42 out of 75 seats, a strike rate of was 56%. The BJP then had performed far better by winning 17 out of the 37 it contested while SAD won 24 out of the 38 it contested.
Also read | Congress sweeps Ludhiana MC polls with 62 seats, AAP enters House with 1
BJP’s individual performance has seen a decline since 2002 when it won 45.9% of its seats. The number fell to 32% in 2012 and to 21.2% in 2018. In 2002, SAD won 63.6% of the seats it contested. The figure shot up to 71% in 2012 but fell to 22.9% in 2018. Ranjeet Singh Dhillon, SAD’s Ludhiana district unit president, said, “Such a result was expected as 20% people could not even came out to cast their votes because of intimidation by goons of Congress. We had expressed our doubts soon after polls and even made a submission to Punjab Governor as well. We don’t consider it as people’s verdict. It is a verdict by use of illegal ways by Congress.”
Ravinder Arora, BJP’s district unit president, also expressed similar opinion, alleging use of unfair means used in Patiala, Amritsar and Jalandhar and repeated in Ludhiana.
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