The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the single largest party in the Nabha Municipal Council elections, winning 11 of 23 seats. It missed the majority mark by one seat.
The Congress secured five seats, while the BJP won three. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to win only two seats, and two Independent candidates also emerged victorious.
A total of 33,037 votes were polled in the civic body elections. AAP received 10,334 votes, followed by Congress with 9,216 votes and the BJP 7,627 votes. The SAD secured 3,451 votes, of which 1,276 came from Ward No. 2 alone.
The election results, however, were overshadowed by a controversy over the counting process in Ward No. 18, where the result remained pending for a considerable time.
The Congress leaders alleged that their candidate Inderjit Singh was initially declared the winner by a margin of nine votes during the counting process.
They claimed that following a demand for recounting by AAP, some votes were cancelled and the counting was conducted again, resulting in AAP candidate Udhamdeep Singh being declared as the winner.
Inderjit Singh alleged that two votes were cancelled during the second round of counting and that ballot papers were repeatedly examined before the result were altered by the counting team.
Independent candidate Ramesh Kumar supported the Congress candidate’s claims, alleging that counting agents of other candidates were removed from the counting centre and that the local administration acted under pressure.
Rejecting the allegations, Nabha SDM-cum-Returning Officer APS Somal told the local media that the recount was conducted after an AAP counting agent sought a review of the votes. He said the recount showed 423 votes in favour of the AAP candidate and 413 votes for the Congress candidate.
Following the announcement of the result, Congress workers led by former minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot raised slogans against the Punjab Government and alleged manipulation in the counting process. The party also announced its decision to challenge the result in the court.
