Ludhiana: Claiming that SAD has managed to strike into the urban vote bank, which was BJP’s strength, and it was their aim to weaken the saffron party’s grip, SAD leaders maintained that it had still emerged the second largest party in the state in the municipal polls. The leaders also accused the Congress of using power to scare away voters and get the nominations of their candidates cancelled in some parts of the state.
Gurdeep Singh Gosha, president of Youth Akali Dal (YAD), Ludhiana, said, “Performance of our candidates has been quite impressive and there are a huge number of seats which were decided by a very narrow margins. All our candidates are in high spirits and our top leadership too has thanked all contestants who fought this battle even after such huge hurdles created by the Congress during these elections. The Congress was so desperate to win the elections that it used government machinery, goons and all sorts of dirty tactics to scare away our candidates and voters. At a large number of places the nomination papers of dozens of candidates were cancelled on frivolous grounds, but even then we did not bow down to them and at some places our candidates have registered thumping victory and toppled the candidates of the ruling party.”
Gosha added that, “Another achievement of our party this time has been that we have finished the base of anti-farmers’ party BJP, whose voter base in the urban areas was increasing. What could be worse that relatives of several prominent BJP leaders have lost the elections miserably. But if you look at the overall results, the SAD vote share in urban areas has increased a lot. These election results are warning bells for the Congress and BJP as SAD is going to win the next assembly elections in Punjab with record majority. On the other hand, the election results are a tight slap on the face of Aam Admi Party (AAP), which was trying to project itself as the biggest well-wisher of the farmers, but it has been crushed badly all over Punjab with some of its candidates losing by record margins.”