18022021-JTR-01.qxd 2/17/2021 11:58 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE PAGE 2 32ND NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY MONTH CONCLUDES IN CITY The 32nd National Road Safety Month concludes under the theme ‘Sadak Suraksha Jeevan Raksha’. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY PAGE 3 SALMA HAYEK ON HER DESPERADO CO-STAR ANTONIO BANDERAS Hollywood diva recalls how Banderas helped her when she started tearing up on the sets of the 1995 film. MAX 25°C | MIN 10°C | YESTERDAY MAX 25°C | MIN 10°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6:17 PM PAGE 4 TANVI THAKKER GETS HITCHED TO LONG-TIME BEAU ADITYA Tanvi, known for her roles in Yeh Ishq Haaye and Miley Jab Hum Tum, tied the knot with Aditya Kapadia on Feb 16. SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:05 AM THURSDAY | 18 FEBRUARY 2021 | JALANDHAR Cong all the way...clear winner in 4 civic bodies Wins 11 of 15 wards in Phillaur, 10 of 13 in Lohian Khas, 11 of 13wards in Mehatpur& nine of 17 wards in Nakodar ■ In Adampur, 12 of the 13 Cong-backed candidates led by Akali rebel leader Darshan S Karwal have won election ■ Deepkamal Kaur MC/NP Total wards Adampur 13 Alawalpur 11 Kartarpur 15 Nakodar 17 Nurmahal 13 Phillaur 15 Lohian Khas 13 Mehatpur 13 Total 110 Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 17 As the result for the eight Urban Local Bodies falling in Jalandhar district were declared on Wednesday, the ruling Congress got a clear-cut majority in at least four of these. The Congress won a majority by winning 11 of the 15 wards in Phillaur, 10 of 13 in Lohian Khas, 11 of 13 wards in Mehatpur and nine of 17 wards in Nakodar. In Adampur, 12 of the 13 Congressbacked candidates led by Akali rebel leader Darshan S Karwal have won the poll. Besides Darshan Karwal, his younger brother Harjinder Karwal is also a winner. The entire Karwal group had contested on the symbol ‘tractor’. Akali Dal’s all five candidates and BJP’s all three fighting on symbol lost from here even, while a BSP candidate made it. In 15-ward Kartarpur, six of the nine candidates that the Congress contested on symbol have won. Also, of the five other candidates, who were backed by the party but contested as Independent, have won. This makes local MLA Chaudhary Surinder Singh pretty comfortable, as he has 11 councillors by his side. SITUATION IN ALAWALPUR, NURMAHAL DICEY The situation in Alawalpur and Nurmahal remains dicey. The two seats can go either the Congress or the SAD way. In Alawalpur, Akali Dal won the solo seat that it contested on its symbol. Of the remaining 10, Independently winning councillors local Akali MLA Pawan Tinu claims that five are by his side making it a figure of 6 of 11 and hence a majority. However, the next few days will bring in the clear picture. In Nurmahal, too, Akali MLA Gurpartap Wadala claims to be getting a majority. No candidate of the Congress or Akali Dal had contested on a symbol on this seat. SAD 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 BJP 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 AAP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BSP 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 Independents 12 10 9 8 12 3 3 2 59 MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary and Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary with 11 party candidates celebrate the victory in MC elections in Phillaur on Wednesday; and (right) former cabinet minister Mahinder Singh Kaypee with winners and supporters in Adampur. TRIBUNE PHOTOS VOTERS INCLINED TOWARDS INDEPENDENTS ■ The voters seemed inclined towards Independents in Jalandhar. In the 110 wards that went to the polls, as many as 59 winning candidates fought without a symbol. In all, there were 416 candidates from Jalandhar, which included 220 Independently contesting candidates. ■ Even as most of these candidates had a backing of leaders from national or regional parties, they said they deliberately did not contest on symbols. “Voters generally do not get attracted to the policies of major political parties in the local election. Rather, it is their personal identity and local connect that does the trick. This has been proven repeatedly in the MC elections,” said a Jalandhar-based psephologist. ■ In Jalandhar, maximum number of wards were clinched by Independent candidates in Adampur (12 out of 13), Nurmahal (12 out of 13), Alawalpur (10 out of 11) and in Kartarpur (nine out of 15). ■ While Congress claimed victory on around 10 wards in Lohian Khas, Jagjit Singh, a Cong winner, said: “Considering the overall results, it’s surprising that people evinced interest in Independent candidates. While we were committed to fulfilling our promises, voters look for change as well.” — Ajay Joshi BJP, SAD ON A PAR While the Congress, which contested 65 of 110 wards from Jalandhar ULBs on its symbol, won on 47 seats, the success rate of SAD and BJP was very low. Both parties could get a single ward each. While Akalis got a lone ward in Alawalpur, BJP got it in Nurmahal. While Akalis had Continued on page 2 INC 0 0 6 9 0 11 10 11 47 COUPLE WINS A couple who was in the fray from the two wards of the Kartarpur MC was victorious. While former MC president Prince Arora has won on the Congress symbol from Ward No.6, his wife Jyoti Arora won as an Independent from Ward No.4. The couple deliberately chose not to contest on symbol from Ward No.4 so as to garner more votes. Poor show: BJP candidates get votes in single digit in most wards Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 17 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates performed so dismally that many of them finished on a single digit in most of the wards. Sample this: In Ward No.1 of Tanda Municipal Council, falling in Hoshiarpur district, BJP candidate Rajni polled only four of 890 votes. NOTA got more preference with six votes in this ward. The situation wasn’t better off in other wards of Tanda, where Ward No. 4 candidate Gurpreet Singh polled 12 votes; Ward No. 6 candidate Ankur Malhotra 17; Ward No. 7 candidate Jaswinder Kaur three; Ward No. 4 candidate Baljit Singh four; Ward No.9 candidate Amandeep Singh eight and Ward No.12 candidate Sanjiv Kumar polled just four votes (same as NOTA). This was not the lone case, where most BJP candidates were seen finishing on a single or double digit vote tally. Now sample this: In Kapurthala Municipal Corporation elections, BJP candidate from Ward No. 10 could poll only 19 votes of total 1,598 votes. In Alawalpur MC too, Ward No. 6 candidate Jogi polled just two votes. In Ward Nos. 1 and 4 of adjoining Adampur ❝ The local body poll result does not reflect the will of the masses. Unfair means have been used by the ruling party. For instance, on the polling day, a supplementary voter list without photographs was released in Bathinda. In Pathankot, our voters were shunted out of the polling booth. Manoranjan Kalia, EX-BJP MINISTER council, BJP candidates Rajni and Bikram polled only nine votes. In Nakodar’s Ward No. 1, BJP candidate Manjit Kaur polled only eight votes, Ward No. 11 candidate Sumeer Kumar polled five and Ward No. 12 candidate Malkiat Singh nine votes. In Jalandhar district municipal council, where 17 of 110 wards were contested by the BJP it got none. , Even in Nakodar municipal council of Jalandhar, where BJP contested on seven wards, it lost all. The only ward in Jalandhar that the party has won is of Nurmahal. SAD MLA Nakodar Gurpartap Wadala says: “The winning BJP candidate from Nurmahal is the wife of Vinod Kumar Jassal, former vicepresident of the municipal council. She was not interested in taking the BJP symbol, but was imposed upon by the party. She has won on her personal links and on the basis of her work in the past. She in all probability will announce to quit from the BJP in a few days. I count her as my candidate, as I was backing her. With her being on board and six other Independent winners, whom I supported, I should be able to get my team in power in the 13-ward council.” Ex-BJP minister Manoranjan Kalia, when contacted, said: “The local body poll result does not reflect the will of the masses. Unfair means have been used by the ruling party. For instance, on the polling day, a supplementary voter list without photographs was released in Bathinda. In Pathankot, our voters were shunted out of the polling booth.” About Jalandhar seats, he said: “We had never fought on so many seats, but we still attempted it this time.” For Hoshiarpur, he said: “I think it was anti-incumbency which became the main reason. Some suppressive means were also used by the ruling Congress.” ...sweeps the poll in Hoshiarpur district Our Correspondent HOSHIARPUR MC (50) Cong BJP AAP Ind Hoshiarpur, February 17 In Hoshiarpur city, Congress set a record by winning 41 out of the 50 wards in the Municipal Corporation elections. After holding the fort for 15 consecutive years, the BJP had ruled the civic body twice but they suffered a crushing defeat this time. In this election, the Bharatiya Janata Party was reduced to only four seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal could not even open its account. Contesting for the first time on its symbol, the Aam Aadmi Party won two seats. Three Independents also won the election. Prominent among the winning Independent candidates remained Pandit Brahm Shankar Jimpa. He was the vice-chairman of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation and had resigned from his post and party after being denied a Congress ticket and then contested as an Independent. This time, he won his fourth consecutive term since being elected as a councillor for the first time in 2003. However, Rakesh Sood, senior BJP leader and former Cabinet minister Tikshan Sood’s wife, had to taste defeat from Ward Number 5. The election results of 15 wards of Mukerian municipal council were declared after counting at SPN College, of which Congress won from 11 wards, BJP from three and Akali Dal from one ward. In Dasuya nagar council, MUKERIAN 41 4 2 3 (15) Cong BJP SAD 11 3 1 DASUYA (15 WARDS) Cong AAP TANDA URMAR 11 4 (15) Cong SAD Ind GARHDIWALA 12 2 1 (11) Cong Ind HARIANA 10 1 (11) Cong SAD Ind 7 1 3 GARHSHANKAR (13) Ind Cong 10 3 SHAMCHAURASI (9) Cong SAD Ind 4 3 2 MAHILPUR BYPOLL (2) Cong Ind 1 1 TALWARA BYPOLL (1) Cong 1 too, the Congress won 11 of the 15 wards, while the Aam Aadmi Party won four seats. SAD and BJP however, , continued on page 2 Congress candidates with supporters during a road show after winning the MC poll in Hoshiarpur on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Banga delivers hung council, BJP manages just 1 seat Congress candidates bag 45 of 50 wards in Kapurthala Jalandhar: The results of the civic body poll in Nawanshahr, Banga and Rahon, gave a major setback to the BJP. It could manage to win only one ward in the district. Opposition against the three agri laws is being seen as one of the major reasons behind such a debacle. In Rahon, 13 Independents won all 13 wards. Notably, the candidates did not fight on any symbol. Of 13, seven have affiliation with Congress. In Banga, AAP and Congress won five wards each of 15 wards, while SAD grabbed three wards, Independent and BJP managed to win one seat, respectively. As no one got a majority in Banga, political outfits, especially AAP and Congress, have started brainstorming. Sources said a majority of AAP candidates were earlier associated with Congress. SAD MLA from Banga Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi said, “We have three seats and an Independent is also with us. Being an MLA, I also have a vote.” Satvir Palli Jhikki, chairman, Congress District Planning Committee, said nothing was clear. “We need three more seats to make Kapurthala: The Congress won 45 out of 50 wards in the Kapurthala Municipal Corporation poll. Congress candidate from Ward No. 8 was elected unopposed. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to win three wards and Independents won from two wards. SAD nominees won from Ward No.16, 28 and 48, while Independents emerged victorious from Ward No.7 and 37. In Sultanpur Lodhi, Congress bagged 10 wards out of 13 followed by SAD, which won three wards. The BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to open their accounts in the district with none able to win a single seat in 63 wards (50 in Kapurthala and 13 in Sultanpur Lodhi). SAD halka incharge Paramjit Singh Pamma’s (brother-in-law of BJP MP Hans Raj Hans) family members faced major debacle in Kapurthala. Pamma’s wife Shaminder Kaur lost from Ward No.41; Kiran Kaur, wife of Pamma’s elder bother, Resham Singh, lost from from Ward No.45; Pamma’s younger brother Sukhwinder Singh Sukkha lost the election from Ward No. 46. Pamma had contested on Congress candidates and MLA Angad Saini flash a victory sign post winning in Nawanshahr. TRIBUNE PHOTOS NAWANSHAHR Congress Independents SAD BSP RAHON Independents (19) 11 4 3 1 (13) BANGA AAP Congress SAD BJP Independent (15) INDEPENDENT TO THE CORE Independent candidates from Alawalpur all smiles after winning in Jalandhar on Wednesday. 5 5 3 1 1 13 our chief. We will try and approach the winners,” he said. AAP block chief Ranveer Rana said, they will decide the future strategy. “We will stay with AAP,” he said. In Nawanshahr, Cong won 11 of 19 wards. Independents bagged four wards, Akalis three, BSP won one ward and BJP failed to open its account. Lalit Mohan Pathak, former council chief (Cong), fought as an Independent this time from Ward No. 12. He won the election by defeating rival Congress candidate. — Aakanksha N Bhardwaj AAP KE UMMEEDWAR Jubilant Aam Aadmi Party winners from Banga in Nawanshahr on Wednesday. c m y b Cong candidates with MLA Rana Gurjit Singh (left) celebrate their victory in Kapurthala on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO KAPURTHALA MC (50) Congress SAD Ind 45 (1 elected unopposed) 3 2 SULTANPUR LODHI (13) Congress SAD SAD ticket in the Assembly elections from Kapurthala and he was chief of the council twice. Purshottam 10 3 Passi, former BJP district chief, also lost in Kapurthala from Ward No. 22. —Aparna Banerji