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Punjab municipal council polls peaceful

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday thanked the people of the State for peaceful conduct of elections to the 95 municipal councils and claimed a landslide victory for the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance.

In a statement, Mr. Badal said that despite the vast magnitude of the electoral exercise the people of the State and the administrative machinery joined hands to ensure smooth conduct of the poll. The Chief Minister said the polling remained totally peaceful, free and fair and it was a “victory for grassroots democracy in the urban and semi-urban segments”. Punjabis voted with enthusiasm and utmost responsibility to set an example for the rest for the country in dignified democratic conduct, he added.

Mr. Badal also thanked the State Election Commission for ensuring a free and fair poll. “The State Elections Commission’s role thoroughly exposed the vicious and misleading propaganda of our rivals about the fairness of the poll. I am grateful for all the foolproof arrangements made by the Commission to prevent any electoral malpractice from taking place during the entire Municipal councils electioneering process,” he said.

Mr. Badal asked the Congress to accept the basic tenet of democracy in which the voice of the people is the voice of God. “We hope that, at least this time, the Congress party and its leadership would show democratic grace and dignity to accept the verdict of the people in the true spirit of democracy.”

He said the Congress leadership had been totally frustrated, having to face one poll debacle after another from Corporation elections to Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samitis, Amritsar South Lok Sabha by-election and now the municipal elections.

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal in a separate statement trashed the Congress protestations after their poll debacle as an “enactment of a well-rehearsed stage show in breast-beating and fake anger”. Claiming a landslide success, he said the Congress was routed almost everywhere.

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Punjab municipal council polls peaceful

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