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Punjab’s urban local body election results on Friday gave the state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a clear edge, but the verdict came wrapped in controversy after a campaign marked by allegations of violence, rejection of nomination papers and a fierce political battle over ballot papers versus electronic voting machines (EVMs).

With counting for the civic polls still underway for elections to eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 20 nagar panchayats all spread across 1,977 wards, results declared till 3 pm put the AAP in the lead with wins in 675 wards, followed by the Congress in 270, Independents in 211, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) at 150, the BJP at 67, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at 6. Of the 80 candidates elected unopposed, 63 belong to the AAP.

In Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home turf of Dhuri, the AAP won 20 of 21 wards in the municipal council. In state Education Minister Harjot Bains’ Anandpur Sahib, the AAP won 11 out of 13 municipal council wards. In the Gidderbaha Municipal Council, the home turf of Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, 17 of 19 wards went the AAP’s way. The complete results for the eight municipal corporations are yet to be declared.

Though civic body elections in Punjab have traditionally gone in favour of the ruling party, the Opposition said the scale of the AAP’s victory could not be viewed separately from the circumstances in which the polls were held.

Controversy deepened further after the Punjab State Election Commission decided to conduct the elections through ballot papers instead of EVMs, citing non-availability. The BJP made the issue the centrepiece of its campaign and accused the AAP of trying to create conditions for manipulation during counting.

The matter travelled from the State Election Commission to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and finally the Supreme Court, which refused to halt the election process. But even after the results, BJP leaders continued alleging “vote chori” through ballot papers.

BJP spokesperson Vineet Joshi alleged the ruling party had “indulged in all kinds of excesses”. “The ruling party indulged in all kinds of excesses, from rejecting papers to demolishing people’s houses, intimidating them to choose ballot boxes over EVMs. This was vote chori. In my Nayagaon area, in Ward No. 6, the counting is taking place for the third time because BJP candidate Surinder Kaushish is leading by a margin of 15 votes. But they cannot digest it. Hence, they will count, recount and count once again… In Nayagaon, out of 11 results outed, eight have gone BJP way,” Joshi said.

“Who won the municipal elections before the 2022 Assembly elections? It was the Congress. And the Congress was routed out in the 2022 Assembly elections. So, these elections cannot be viewed as the semi-final for the 2027 Assembly elections,” Joshi added.

The BJP had entered the civic polls hoping to make gains in urban Punjab after breaking away from the SAD in 2020. The party also viewed the elections as an opportunity to expand its base, hoping its resounding victory in the recent West Bengal Assembly elections would create a positive environment for the BJP. Besides, the exodus of seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs was also expected to give the BJP an edge. Instead, the results show the BJP falling well short of its expectations.

For the Congress, the elections highlighted another problem, the inability to convert its 2024 Lok Sabha election momentum into grassroots-level organisation. In several towns, factional rivalries weakened the party’s campaign.

The Congress’s Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said the results were “on expected lines” because civic polls usually favour ruling parties. “These are hyper-local elections and the results are on expected lines. You pick the previous record. All municipal elections were won by the ruling party. However, the contest has been between the AAP and Congress. This is what is going to be in the Assembly elections also.”

For the SAD, however, the results brought some relief after years of political decline. SAD spokesperson Parambans Singh Romana said the results showed that the Akalis still retained support in urban Punjab, and that both the BJP and Congress had overestimated their own strength. “This is a message to the BJP and Congress. They thought they were everywhere in cities. However, the Akalis have performed better than them. It is an indication of times to come,” Romana said.