24122024-LT-01.qxd 12/24/2024 1:00 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune CHRISTMAS PROCESSION SPREADS MESSAGE OF PEACE JINGLE BELLS TO THE BEAT OF DHOL, PAHADI NATI, LANGAR COLD WARMS UP CHANDIGARH’S SPIRITS A grand and vibrant procession marked the beginning of Christmas celebrations in Abohar. P3 Come X-mas and oldest churches in region become melting pot of eastern and western sensibilities. P4 Even though mercury dipped, human warmth is palpable at Christ The King Cathedral Church, Chandigarh. P4 » » » FORECAST DENSE FOG MAX 20°C | MIN 6°C YESTERDAY MAX 19°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET TUESDAY 5.28 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:16 AM TUESDAY | 24 DECEMBER 2024 | LUDHIANA Cong candidate MC elections: Talks on between Repoll:votes in Khanna wins by 263 ward Congress, BJP to form House Mahesh Sharma Both parties claiming support of one Independent each, One Ind joins AAP, taking its count to 42 Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 23 The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leaving no stone unturned to form the Municipal Corporation House in Ludhiana and at the same time, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are also making every effort to change the scenario. However, one Independent candidate today joined AAP . Independent candidate from Ward 11 Rani Chaudhary joined AAP taking its , total count of seats to 42. Meanwhile, the Congress, with the second highest seat count in Ludhiana, and the BJP are also exploring the possibility of joining hands with each other to eliminate AAP from the scene. The Congress has 30 seats and BJP has 19 and together, they have secured 49 seats. Both parties are claiming support of one Independent each, which will take the total number to 51. Sanjay Talwar, president of the District Congress Committee, said talks were on now in this regard and Congress councillors were having a word with BJP councillors. “Things can be finalised if Sanjay Talwar, president, District Congress Committee Rajneesh Dhiman, district BJP president both parties agree to terms at the local level. Once everybody agrees, we will put a request forward to the party high command for approval. The Mayor will be from the Congress as we have more number of councillors,” he said. Talwar added that the decision to make an alliance with the BJP had been taken keeping in view the interest of the city and they would never enter into alliance with AAP . “It was only under the pressure of the Supreme Court that the elections to the municipal corporations were held, otherwise AAP was not interested in conducting the poll. How can you expect development from the government which was not interested in hold- ing the elections. The corporation was without House for the past 18 months,” the Congress leader said. Rajneesh Dhiman, district BJP chief, said they were ready to take the decision keeping in view development of the city. “We are yet to have a word with the party high command in this regard and the final decision will be taken by them. The Mayor of the House will be from the BJP,” he said. According to the sources, one Independent candidate is showing inclination towards the Congress, one towards the BJP and one today joined AAP. In yet another possibility, all three parties, the Congress, BJP and SAD, without Independents, can also prove majority by taking the count to 51 members. If, the Congress and BJP together form the House, history will be repeated after 32 years, when the first MC elections were held in 1992 and the Congress had allied with the BJP. Then, the BJP has more seats but it had failed to get the majority and the Congress had the second highest number of councillors. Later, both parties had formed an alliance. Following which, Chaudhary Sat Prakash of the BJP was appointed the first Mayor of the city. After a series of talks with the AAP leadership, one Independent candidate, who won from Ward 11, today joined AAP She joined the . party in the presence of Cabinet Minister Malkit Singh Bhullar and other MLAs of the ruling party. AAP had secured only 41 seats and they needed 48 to prove majority and make Mayor from its own party. Party leadership is already holding talks with the remaining two Independents, Ratanjit Kaur from Ward 1 and Monica Jaggi from Ward 83, but the duo have yet to announce their support to AAP . Sources said besides the two Independent councillors, AAP leaders had also been approaching winning candidates of the BJP and Congress and it was likely that some of them might join them. Mayor to be elected within one month The Mayor will be elected after all candidates will take oath. The party with the highest number of seats will be offered to form the House. Ludhiana has 95 wards and AAP has won 42 seats and is short of six seats to prove majority. In addition to 95 councillors, there are also seven urban MLAs, who are ex-officio members and part of the House and are also allowed to vote. In case votes of all seven MLAs (all from AAP) are added, the total members will be 102 (95 councillors plus seven MLAs) and then, 51 members would be required to elect the new Mayor. In this scenario also, AAP will require more members to prove their majority in the House and elect its Mayor. Khanna, December 23 Satnam Singh Chaudhary, Congress nominee for the byelections for Ward 2 of the Khanna Municipal Council, was declared winner. He defeated his rival AAP candidate Vicky Vishal by 263 votes, following repoll for the polling station number 4, which was held under tight security as per directions of the State Election Commission on Monday. Satnam secured 798 votes while Vicky got 535 votes. Besides taking security measures at and near the polling station, police officials, led by DSP Amritpal Singh Bhatti, conducted a flag march to boost the morale of residents. “Having received instructions from seniors, we had made unprecedented security arrangements so that voters may use their right to vote without fear,” said Bhatti, adding that a flag march was conducted later to boost the morale of the residents. The state Election Commission had ordered repoll at polling station number 4 in Ward 2 of Khanna in response to a proposal sent by the District Election Officer, Ludhiana, on Saturday when an EVM had been damaged after counting of three machines was completed. Tensions ran high in the region following the alleged EVM tampering that marred the polling process on Saturday. A large number of activists of the Congress had laid a dharna in front of the polling station on Saturday and Sunday, demanding action against the AAP candidate for allegedly damaging the EVM. Notably, supporters of AAP candidate Vicky Vishal had began celebrating on Saturday evening before the declaration of the results, claiming that he had won. Having received instructions from the Election Commission, the DC-Cum-District Election Officer, Ludhiana, Jitendra Jorwal, had advised the government officials concerned to conduct a repoll for polling station number 4, according to the guidelines of the commission. Cops being briefed by senior officials before deployment on poll duty at a polling station in Khanna. Man’s body found ~16 lakh looted from two by suspects Boy comes in contact with hanging from tree posing as policemen from hotel high tension wire, injured Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 23 The body of a man was found hanging from a tree in a vacant government plot near the Mini-Secretariat here. The deceased, whose identity has not been disclosed, is suspected to have committed suicide by hanging. According to eyewitnesses, passers-by noticed the body and informed the police control room. A team from the Division Number 8 police station reached the scene, brought down the body and sent it to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Investigating officer ASI Ajeet Pal Singh said no document was found on the deceased that could help identify him. The police initiated an investigation to identify the victim. The body was kept in the mortuary for 72 hours to facilitate identification. The police are also scanning CCTV footage from the area to gather more information in the case. Ludhiana, December 23 Miscreants posing as CIA personnel barged into a hotel room and assaulted two persons, They looted Rs 16 lakh and two mobile phones from the victims. They had taken the duo hostage at gunpoint and committed the crime. After the incident, the victims raised the alarm and informed the police. After registering a case, the Model Town police started a probe into the matter. Giving information to the police, one of the victims, Amarjit Singh, a resident of the Rahon road, said he was in talk with a person, Raj Verma, who assured to send his brother Damanpreet Singh to Canada. A deal was fixed at Rs 16 lakh in this regard and it was decided that the money would be paid after his brother reaches Canada. The complainant said Raj Verma had also told him that he would soon send Damanpreet to Canada but he wanted to see Rs 16 lakh in cash, which should be kept ready. “On December 20, he received a call from Raj who said he was sending Amit Kumar, who would check the cash and then proceedings to send Damanpreet to Canada would be finalised. Since I had to show the money to Amit, who was staying at Regenta hotel, I, along with my friend Gaurav Sharma, went to the place and stayed with Amit on the night of December 20. In the wee hours of the next day, Amit opened the door and around five persons forcefully entered the room. The alleged miscreants posing as CIA officials beaten me and my friend Gaurav Sharma and held us captive inside the room and fled with Rs 16 lakh. Afterwards, Amit also escaped from the scene with the miscreants,” the complainant said. SHO, Model Town police station, SI Avneet Kaur, said the police started a probe. A CCTV footage was also found but it could not be made public till the case was resolved. Amit Kumar, a resident of Delhi, who allegedly came to see the cash, connived with the suspects. Hence, he was also booked in the case. After his arrest, other persons, who posed as CIA officials, would also be nabbed. — TNS Ludhiana, December 23 A teenage boy playing on the roof of his house at Dhandari Khurd got an electric shock from high tension wires. He got badly burnt and fell unconscious. On hearing the noise, his family took him to the Civil Hospital. Seeing his critical condition, doctors referred him to the PGI, Chandigarh. The victim was identified as Vishal (14). Vishal’s brother-in-law Sumit said when the boy was playing on the roof he suffered an electric shock. His face and other parts of the Aam Aadmi Party, not anti-incumbency, was on voters’ mind Nitin Jain T HE Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) making stellar gain, the main Opposition Congress getting down by half, the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faring the best, and the state’s oldest Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) facing the worst-ever drubbing in the December 21 civic poll in Ludhiana district have a clear message from voters. They still want the AAP , notwithstanding the antiincumbency, rising inflation and other local issues, which await a solution even almost three years after Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been in office. And this sentiment is doubly underlined by the twothirds majority logged by the AAP candidates, the highest by winning 10 of the 15 seats in the Machhiwara Municipal Council (MC), seven of the 11 wards in the Maloud Nagar Panchayat, and gaining absolute majority by winning eight of the 15 seats in the Sahnewal MC that went for the elections. However, the AAP lost the Mullanpur Dakha MC to the Congress by winning only three of the total 13 seats while the main Opposition party registered absolute majority with seven seats and the rest three wards went to the Independents. In the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, which is the state’s biggest, largest and the richest civic body, in terms of area, population and budget, the ruling party made stellar gain by winning 41 seats as compared to a single seat that it had won during its debut contest in alliance with a local outfit in 2018. However, this did not serve the purpose as the AAP is still short of seven seats to reach the magic number of 48 in the 95- member MC House. Meanwhile, one Independent candidate joined AAP on Monday, taking its total count of seats to 42. Now, it’s still short of six seats to reach the count of 48. When it comes to the Congress, it was reduced to less than a half by retaining only 30 seats against 62 seats that it had won to rule the MC in 2018. The BJP fared the best in the past two decades with 19 seats by contesting the civic poll alone for the first time in over 23 years after snapping ties with the age-old ally SAD, which faced the worstever drubbing by getting reduced to mere two seats, even less than three Independents that had won the civic poll in Ludhiana. It underscores the point that the Congress winning Ludhiana in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll failed to benefit the grand old party in the civic poll despite the fact that MC POLL ANALYSIS none other than Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is the sitting MP It will not be inapt to . say Ludhianvis have voted for AAP more than the Con, gress. However, some observers seek to dilute this point by stating that it was a civic election with the majority of voters in urban areas having nothing much to do with the national and state issues. The Opposition feels that it was a clever ploy by the AAP to get the MC poll conducted in a “hush-hush” manner after a delay of almost two years and used “money and muscle” power to wrest control over civic bodies in the periphery towns but still failed to gain majority in Ludhiana, the charge vehemently denied by the ruling party. While the Congress and the SAD ranks, who had made much of the anti-incumbency factor and c m y b tried to repeat the parliamentary poll mandate, are demoralised, the AAP and even BJP workers and leaders are in high spirits and feel strongly that the outcome in the MC elections will find its echo in the next Punjab Assembly elections due in 2027. The mandate is not only shocking for the decimated SAD but is also beyond what the state’s regional party, which had contested separately its first-ever civic elections after parting ways with its age-old ally BJP over the contentious farm laws, had expected. “We were expecting to be a strong opposition, but not to be the ruling party,” confided a senior Akali leader. In the history of the civic polls, it is the biggest defeat for the Independents as well, who managed to win just three of the total 95 seats they had contested. And for the BSP CPM, and other outfits, , it was a complete rout as they failed to even open their account in any of the five civic bodies that had gone to poll in the district. However, the SAD won the lone seat in Samrala in the bypoll, which was the only saving grace for the Badal’s party. The AAP emerged as the single largest party by winning 69 of the total 150 seats and wresting control over three civic bodies in the district while the main Opposition Congress was decimated with only 47 seats, including absolute majority in Mullanpur Dakha. While the BJP failed to open its account elsewhere except winning 19 seats in Ludhiana, the SAD managed two seats in Machhiwara and one in Sahnewal besides two in Ludhiana. However, there were setbacks for the ruling party as well. The wives of its two local MLAs — Gurpreet Bassi Gogi and Ashok Parashar Pappi — faced the drubbing. Even former Congress Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s wife Mamta also lost the elections. Refusing to take it as the mandate against the opposition parties, the Congress, the BJP and the SAD leaders alleged “misuse of official machinery” and “arm-twisting” by the ruling party to win by “hook or crook”. They also accused the AAP of adopting “unfair means”. The Congress even resorted to a protest against what it alleged as “rigging” in civic poll in Khanna, where repoll was held on Monday. However, Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal claimed free, fair and peaceful conduct of the poll. When it comes to the seat share, the AAP bagged 46 per cent, the Congress 31.33 per cent, BJP 12.66 per cent, SAD 3.33 per cent and the Independents got 6 per cent winners. body got burnt due to same. The victim while talking to mediapersons at the Civil Hospital here said after taking a bath when he was playing on the roof, he got an electric shock. He felt as if fire had caught him but before he could understand anything, he fell unconscious on the ground. Sources said the boy received about 60 to 70 per cent burns. Doctors gave him first aid and referred him to the PGI, Chandigarh. Vishal is a Class VII student, who studies in a government school. — TNS House attacked, councillor’s spouse assaulted by drunkards Ludhiana, December 23 A group of drunkards attacked a house in the Guru Arjun Dev Nagar area here and later assaulted a local councillor’s husband and his companions who had reached the scene. The miscreants allegedly threw stones and broke windows. They also reportedly fired gunshots. The attack occurred on Sunday evening when a young man, Sahil, took refuge in Harjit Kaur’s house to escape a fight between two groups. The attackers assumed that she was harbouring the victim and began throwing stones at her house. Councillor Lovely Manocha’s husband and his companions were also assaulted when they reached the scene. The police launched an investigation and collected CCTV footage from the area. The attackers are still at large. — TNS