AMRITSAR – Riding high on the victories scored in the assembly and the local body elections in the cities, the ruling SAD has once again outplayed the Opposition Congress in the zila parishad and block samiti elections in Amritsar and Tarn Taran by winning a huge majority of the seats.
Continuing its winning streak, the SAD once again banked on the plank of development to woo the electorate. The SAD leaders harped on the development works carried out by the SAD-led government in the state over the last six years. The SAD campaign in the region was led by Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia who held several public meetings in the last leg of the campaign.
The SAD performed exceptionally well in his home turf Majitha by winning all two zila parishad seats and all 29 block samiti seats, wiping out the Congress entirely from the assembly constituency. Though the Congress was at the receiving end of a couple of violent incidents in the run-up to the elections, it could not convert the issue into electoral gains.
Interestingly, the official SAD candidates faced defeat at the hands of various Independent candidates supported by the SAD leaders themselves, particularly in Tarn Taran district which witnessed infighting in the ruling party.
Tarn Taran MLA Harmeet Singh Sandhu had fielded his own candidates against the party’s official nominees who were supported by SAD leader Alwinderpal Singh Pakhoke, who is the nephew of SAD stalwart Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. Similarly in Chabhal seat, an Independent candidate supported by Punjab Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon defeated the official party candidate.
