Sukhbir Badal pointed out that nearly a dozen senior leaders of AAP, including ministers and MLAs, couldn’t even win their home seats in Block Samiti elections. (File photo)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal Friday said the SAD had actually come second in the Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections in the state and it also had a better overall strike rate than the Congress because it contested 673 lesser seats than the Congress due to large-scale rejection of nomination papers of its candidates.
The SAD president, who honoured party Muktsar incharge Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi as well as all Zila Parishad and Block Samiti winners at his residence in Badal village, said the most number of nominations of SAD candidates were rejected in the recent elections because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government feared the SAD the most. “Aam Aadmi Party was able to get its 351 candidates elected unopposed out of a total of 2,838 Block Samiti seats by using unfair means. It also succeeded in getting 1,024 nomination papers of SAD candidates rejected on flimsy grounds or simply tore them.”
Sukhbir Badal said, “In the Block Samitis, the SAD won 445 seats out of 1,814 contested seats and its strike rate is much better that Congress that contested on 2,487 seats.”
Speaking about the victories the SAD has notched in Bathinda, Muktsar and Faridkot, Badal said the party would be able to get its candidates elected as Zila Parishad chairpersons in these districts. The party was also likely to get its candidates elected as chairpersons in nearly 15 constituencies, including the Mansa Block Samiti with one independent candidate Raswinder Singh from Chakriya village joining the party to take its strength to 13 in a 25- member House.
Congratulating the Muktsar Assembly team of the party on its victory in the elections, Badal said the SAD candidates won two out of the two Zila Parishad seats and 17 out of the 20 Block Samiti seats in Sri Muktsar Sahib constituency.
He pointed out that nearly a dozen senior leaders of AAP, including ministers and MLAs, couldn’t even win their home seats in Block Samiti elections.
He also honoured the party’s Kanewali and Udekaran zone winners — Kulwinder Kaur and Manjit Singh Bittu –besides the Block Samiti winners on the occasion.
