The Congress party in Punjab received a severe jolt in the recent rural local body elections, held on Tuesday. The faction-ridden state unit's poor performance serves as a sobering reality check just ahead of the crucial assembly elections.
A Distant Second in Key Contests
In the zila parishad elections, the Congress managed to win only 62 seats out of the total 347 zones across the state. This placed it a distant second behind the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which secured a commanding 218 zones. The story was similar in the panchayat samiti elections. With results declared for 2,697 of 2,838 zones, the Congress won 567 zones, again being comprehensively outdone by AAP, which emerged as the dominant force with 1,494 zones.
Districts of Concern and Isolated Strongholds
The Congress's poor show was stark in several districts. It failed to win a single zila parishad zone in both Bathinda and Mansa. In Bathinda, 13 of 17 zones went to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), while in Mansa, AAP bagged seven of the 11 zones.
The party's performance was dismal even in the home district of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. In Muktsar, the Congress secured just one zone out of 13. It mirrored this poor result in Amritsar (1 of 24), Faridkot (1 of 10), Moga (1 of 15), and Tarn Taran (1 of 20), where it was largely marginalised by AAP's strong showing.
However, the party showed some resilience in a few pockets. Gurdaspur emerged as its strongest district, where it won 8 of the 25 zila parishad zones. It performed reasonably in Ludhiana (8 of 25) and Jalandhar (7 of 21). The Congress also matched AAP in Ropar, with both winning five zones each, and put up a fight in Ferozepur (6 zones) and Nawanshahr (6 zones). In the panchayat samiti polls, Ludhiana (73 zones), Gurdaspur (65), Jalandhar (61), and Nawanshahr (33) were relative bright spots.
Reactions and Electoral Implications
Reacting sharply to the outcome, PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring accused the ruling party of manipulating the mandate. In a social media post, Warring claimed the Aam Aadmi Party was "basking in stolen glory" despite its claims of a sweep in rural Punjab. He asserted that AAP had not swept the elections but had stolen them.
The results indicate that while the Congress continues to retain pockets of influence, particularly in parts of the Doaba region, it struggles to convert that presence into broader electoral success at the grassroots level. This adds to the challenges faced by the party following successive defeats in recent bypolls, signalling a tough road ahead in the state's political landscape.
