Punjab Civic Body Election Results 2026 Aap Win Bjp Congress Analysis

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday swept the Punjab civic body elections, winning over 900 of 1,977 wards, or over 45%. Hailing the party’s win, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said people had “defeated the politics of hatred and supported developmental politics”.

The Congress was set to finish second and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) fourth, behind Independents. The BJP was set to finish a distant fifth, but the party managed to increase its tally from 49 to above 150 this time, increasing its footprint across Punjab’s urban and semi-urban landscape.

The results come as a boost for the AAP months before the state is set to vote in the crucial Assembly elections. Punjab is one of the three Opposition-ruled states in north India. Mann said people had endorsed his government’s work, including “free power to the domestic sector, availability of daytime power supply to farmers, free treatment at Aam Aadmi clinics and rejection of divisive politics”.

Referring to BJP as the “ED (Enforcement Directorate) party”, the CM said ED raids in Punjab and the arrest of Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora had failed to influence voters. “People have rejected them completely. They are at number five. Even their former alliance partner SAD has failed to deliver. The AAP alone has won more seats than these four parties combined,” he said.

“The people of Punjab have replied to the ‘ED party’. ‘ED politics’ will not work in Punjab,” said AAP leader and Delhi’s former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia. The AAP registered emphatic wins in several key urban bodies, including Barnala, the home turf of newly appointed state BJP president Kewal Dhillon, Mohali, and Bathinda.

Though the urban civic polls are seen as a virtual semi-final before the Assembly polls, in the past, the party that has swept the elections has gone on to be voted out of power in the state. In 2015, the SAD-BJP alliance won more than 1,420 urban wards while the Congress was reduced to just 356. However, barely two years later, the Congress stormed to power with 77 of 117 seats, while the SAD-BJP alliance was reduced to 18.

The Congress was set to finish second with over 360 seats, but its inability to convert Lok Sabha election momentum — it won 7 of 13 parliamentary constituencies — into a strong grassroots organisation will be of concern for the party. Congress insiders said factional rivalries had weakened the party in several towns despite isolated successes.

Among the pockets where the party performed well was former CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s bastion Chamkaur Sahib, where 11 of the 13 seats were won by the party. In Kapurthala, Congress MLA Rana Gurjit Singh steered the party to victory with 31 of 50 seats. His son and Independent MLA Rana Inder Partap Singh also saw his candidates dominate Sultanpur Lodhi municipal council. However, the AAP swept Gidderbaha, the home turf of Punjab Congress chief and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, winning 17 of the 19 wards.

However, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the results were along “expected lines”, saying municipal elections in Punjab usually favour the ruling party. “The real contest remains between the AAP and the Congress. That is what will happen in the Assembly elections too,” he said.

The BJP aggressively campaigned in urban areas, hoping to build on the momentum generated by its Assembly election win in West Bengal to boost its efforts of making gains in Punjab, one of the few Opposition-ruled states among a sea of BJP-governed ones in North India. The most significant gain for the BJP came in the Abohar Municipal Corporation, where the party won 28 of 50 seats, while the AAP finished second.

SAD spokesperson Parambans Singh Romana said the Akalis still retain support in urban Punjab despite the setback. “The ruling party used every tactic to win these elections. They rejected nomination papers and used ballot boxes. We are Assembly election ready,” he alleged.

The pattern repeated last time too. In the 2021 municipal polls, the Congress bagged 1,516 seats across municipal corporations, councils, and nagar panchayats. But months later, in early 2022, the AAP stormed to power with 92 seats and reduced the Congress to 18.

The elections were not without controversies this time around. One point of friction was the State Election Commission’s (SEC) decision to conduct the polls using ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs), saying not enough machines had been supplied in time. The BJP made the issue a major campaign plank, accusing the AAP of trying to manipulate the counting process. Though it took the matter to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and later the Supreme Court, the courts refused to intervene.

BJP leaders, however, continued alleging “vote chori” through ballot papers, with party spokesperson Vineet Joshi accusing the AAP of “all kinds of excesses, from rejecting nomination papers to intimidating candidates and preferring ballot boxes over EVMs”.

The elections to eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 20 nagar panchayats were held on May 26 and saw a turnout of 63.94%.

Kanchan Vasdev is a Senior Assistant Editor in The Indian Express’... Read More