Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today inducted 31 out of the 51 independent candidates who were elected as councillors in the recent civic polls and have extended support to the party into the SAD. The remaining 20 councillors will be admitted to the party shortly.
Addressing a press conference here, the SAD president said with 51 independent councillors expressing their faith in the SAD, the total number of wards won under the SAD leadership had gone up to 243. The party had won 192 wards under its own symbol.
Mr Sukhbir Badal also announced that the SAD had secured a complete majority in nine municipal committees compared to six committees annexed by the Congress and two by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The committees in which the SAD has secured a complete majority are Maluka (9/11), Kot Shamir (11/13), Bhagta Bhaika (7/13), Bhucho (7/13), Nathana (7/11), Lehra Mohabbat (8/11), Sangat (6/9), Kot Fatta (8/11), and Rahon (10/13).
Mr Badal also disclosed that the SAD had secured the number one position in terms of votes polled in a number of Committees including Faridkot, Mehraj, Majitha and Maur. “At many places our candidates were declared defeated despite getting the most votes”.
He gave the example of how a SAD candidate in Zirakpur despite being shown to have got the highest votes in the certificate by the Returning Officer, was shown to have been defeated by the AAP candidate. He also cited similar examples in Malout, Muktsar and Kot Fatta.
Expressing satisfaction with the poll results despite all attempts by the AAP government to get candidature of SAD candidates rejected and the resultant goondaism and misuse of police power, Mr Badal said “the SAD performed better than the Congress”.
He said the SAD was restricted to contesting 1251 seats compared to the 1550 seats contested by the Congress party. “Despite being forced to contest 300 seats less than the Congress the latter could win only 150 more seats than the SAD”, he added.
The SAD president said the repression let loose by the AAP government, including arrest of the party’s district president Satish Grover in Faridkot, as well as action against Akali workers in Majitha had created public angst against the AAP government. “They will teach the party an appropriate lesson in the forthcoming assembly elections”, he added.
Answering a media query, Mr Badal said a recent case registered against Mr Bikram Majithia was part of a political vendetta unleashed against the latter by chief minister Bhagwant Mann. He said one day prior to the revelation that a SAD worker had been apprehended, AAP leader Talbir Gill had forcibly freed his worker from police custody. “However no action was taken against Gill even as Bikram Majithia is being targetted with registration of a false case”.