22122024-JTR-01.qxd 12/22/2024 12:06 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune AAP WINS 2 SEATS, CONG 1 IN HOSHIARPUR BYPOLL ELDERLY WOMEN CAST THEIR VOTE IN WARD NO. 19 HERE ARE ACTORS WHO MADE A MARK WITH SEQUELS IN FILMS In the by-elections for three wards of Hoshiarpur MC, the AAP emerged victorious in two wards. P2 A group of elderly women, including Satnam Kaur, Amarjeet Kaur & Gian Kaur, made their way to a polling booth.P2 Jitendra Kumar's portrayal of Abhishek Tripathi has become a fan-favourite since the show Panchayat 3 debut. P4 » » » FORECAST COLD WAVE MAX 20°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 20°C | MIN 6°C SUNSET SUNDAY 5.29 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 7:23 AM SUNDAY | 22 DECEMBER 2024 | JALANDHAR Victory parades, celebrations sweep city after MC polls AAP FAILS TO GET CLEAR MAJORITY RESULT TOTAL WARDS: 85 AAP: 38; INC: 25; BJP: 19; BSP: 1 INDEPENDENT: 2 Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 21 The streets of the city were alive with energy and excitement as election results for the Municipal Corporation (MC) swept in, marking a victorious celebrations across multiple wards. Nearly, every candidate, who clinched a councillor’s seat, took to roads in grand processions, while distributing sweets and dancing to the beats of dhols and thanking their supporters for giving them strong mandates. One of the key celebrations was led by Aruna Arora, AAP’s winner from Ward No. 33. On the streets of the Model Town, Arora led a roadshow surrounded by her supporters, personally thanking voters for entrusting her with their votes. A former Congress member, Arora’s transition to the AAP did not dampen her popularity, as she continued to be known WINNERS LIST (From left) Aruna Arora, who won on the AAP ticket from Ward No. 33; Manjit Kaur of the BJP, emerged winner from Ward No.19; and BSP aspirant Davinder Goga, who was the winner from Ward No. 34, celebrate their victory in the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation elections on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH/ SARABJIT SINGH for addressing local concerns and pushing for solutions. In Ward No. 32, Congress’s Balraj Thakur took to streets in a similar jubilant display. Thakur’s supporters greeted him with garlands, distributed sweets and even burst firecrackers to mark his victory. A wave of celebration also First-timer Neha Mintu defeats experienced Jaspal Kaur from AAP Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 21 It was a fight between experience and novelty in Ward No. 49. From AAP senior leader , Jaspal Kaur was in the fray and 32-year-old Neha Mintu was contesting from the Congress in the municipal corporation elections. It seems that people of the ward have preferred the young blood this time as Neha Mintu defeated Jaspal Kaur and became a councillor for the first time. Neha Mintu has done BCom and BEd. She is one of the youngest candidates who contested election for the post of councillor. She is mother of two and is a makeup professional as well. An enthusiastic and ambitious Neha said her grandmother was also a councillor from the same party. “I am proud to say that I have kept the family’s legacy alive. I am third in the generation to have won the elections on the Con- Neha Mintu won on the Congress ticket from Ward No. 49 in the Jalandhar MC elections. gress ticket. Whatever I am today is because of my grandmother’s blessings and my father’s and husband’s wishes. I will always be available for the people of my ward,” said Neha while expressing happiness over her victory. When asked was she sure of her win, Jaspal Kaur said, “Yes, there was no doubt about it.” Jaspal Kaur is wife of former Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia, who remained in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for 30 years, but joined Aam Aadmi Party Continued on page 2 spread through Ward No. 24 as AAP’s Amit Dhall, along with Congress’s Uma Beri from Ward No. 25, marked their wins with distribution of sweets and playing music, while revelling in the postelection euphoria. Ward No. 28’s Sherry Chadha and his wife, Prabhjot District witnesses peaceful polling with 54.90% turnout Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 21 Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal conducted inspections of various polling booths in the district to ensure smooth and peaceful voting. Dr Aggarwal said the district achieved an overall voter turnout of 54.90 per cent in the civic body polls. The turnout varied across different regions. Bhogpur Municipal Council recorded 71.81 per cent voter turnout, Goraya Municipal Council 65.36 per cent, Bilga Nagar Panchayat 66.54 per cent, Shahkot Nagar Panchayat 63.90 per cent and Mehatpur Nagar Panchayat registered 61.55 per cent voting. Jalandhar Municipal Corporation recorded 50.27 per cent voting, while Phillaur Municipal Council 55.92 per cent. During inspection of polling booths, Dr Aggarwal interacted with voters and expressed gratitude for their peaceful participation in the poll process. He also commended efforts of the Continued on page 2 Chadha, from Ward No. 27, also marked their political triumph with hugs, heartfelt thanks and jubilant celebrations, distributing sweets as crowds cheered and victory signs flashed across the streets. BJP’s Manjit Kaur from Ward No. 19 also basked in her win with supporters, pos- ing for photos and making victory signs as the party looked hopeful for future political dominance, while securing over 10 wards. Meanwhile, lone BSP candidate Davinder Sood, who triumphed in Ward No. 34, took out a victory march, joined by an enthusiastic group of supporters. However, the home of former Mayor Jagdish Rana and his wife, Anita Raja, was noticeably silent following their defeats in the election. Both contested as AAP candidates in Ward No. 64 and Ward No. 65 after shifting from Congress, but despite their efforts, neither could secure a victory. The couple, once at the forefront of local politics, faced a sharp loss, but accepted their defeat sportingly, while saying that irrespective of the results, they would continue to work for the development of their wards. Low voter turnout signals frustration in voters Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 21 The Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (MC) elections held today saw a disheartening voter turnout of approximately 50.27 per cent, a sharp decline from the 58 per cent polling recorded during the 2017 civic body elections. This marked decline highlights a city-wide disillusionment, with voters expressing frustration over unkept promises, poor governance and neglect of civic issues. The overall voter percentage recorded in the district was 54.90 per cent. Despite increase in the number of wards from 80 in 2017 to 85 this time in the industrial town, the polling percentage failed to reflect any enthusiasm. City reported the lowest voter turnout in the region, while Municipal Councils in Goraya, Bhogpur and Phillaur, along with Nagar Panchayats like Mehatpur and Shahkot, witnessed significant and better participation of voters in the polling process. Bhogpur stood out with a high voter turnout of A polling station at Ward No. 55 wears a deserted look in Jalandhar on Saturday. MALKIAT SINGH 71.81 per cent, far surpassing Jalandhar’s dismal numbers. Logistical challenges further fuelled voter apathy. Many residents struggled to locate their polling booths, wandering from one place to another without clear guidance. Frustrated, many voters opted to return home without voting for their candidate. Geeta, a voter from Ward No. 29, shared her disappointment with the political scenario in the city. “Political parties focus on blame games rather than solving real issues. Voting is my right. So, I did exercise my right to franchise, but I have no hope that things will improve in the city,” she said, while echoing similar sentiments of many other voters. Surbhi, another resident, pointed towards long-pending civic issues as the primary reason for public disillusionment with political parties. “Waste management, aggravating law and order problems, cleanliness and broken roads are among several issues which have never been addressed by political parties. People have lost faith in politicians because they never fulfil promises,” she said, while adding that apathy among voters was rooted in broken trust. Ajay Saini from Master Tara Singh Nagar raised concerns over the city’s stray dog menace, which he says remains unaddressed despite being a major issue. “I feel unsafe while going out for morning walks because packs of stray dogs roam on streets. How can Jalandhar call itself a Smart City when even basic safety is missing?” he questioned. Kamlesh Singh shared how cynicism has permeated Continued on page 2 Voters face tough task in locating names in list 2 couples win, 1 high-profile pair loses Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service People wait in queues to cast their votes at a polling station during the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation elections. MALKIAT SINGH ❝Many voters are coming to us with their For past two days, than ❝triedthehelp by sending ❝Othervoterslocating we to names of in the slips available ❝Voterparty candidates with the voter ID cards and enquiring about the location of their booths. We are helping by scanning lists available with us. There is more confusion this time as wards and booths have changed. voter slips with new vote number, ward number and booth locations at voters’ places. Our teams were able to cover 80 per cent of the houses. Rest of the residents could have faced problem in locating polling booths. Jalandhar, December 21 Of the three couples, who contested in the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation (MC) polls, two pairs won while one high-profile couple lost the elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had given tickets to two couples while the Congress fielded one pair in the civic body elections. From AAP for, mer councillor Balbir Singh Bittu and his wife Karamjeet Kaur won from Ward No. 10 and 11, respectively, falling in Jalandhar Cantonment Assembly constituency. Bittu, who was with Shiromani Akali Dal, had shifted to AAP recently for better political prospects. Finally, it was not just him, but also his better half who emerged victorious in the polls. Shifting loyalty to the AAP , however, did not help other couple —former Mayor Jagdish Raja and his wife and former Senior Deputy Mayor Anita Raja — who lost in elections from Ward No. 64 and 65, respectively. Another Congress couple, which won in the elections from Ward No. 28 and 27, respectively, are former councillor Paramjot S Sherry Chadha and his wife Prabhjot Kaur. Chadha faced tough competition from former councillor Radhika Pathak of the BJP while his wife defeated SAD’s former Senior Deputy Mayor Arvinder Kaur Oberoi in the polls. Chadha was very confident of his victory right from the beginning. were different from those being used at the polling booths in the city. There was a big mismatch. For a family of four, two members had to cast their votes in one booth and the other two at different polling booth. ❞ Workers of political parties Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 21 The voters who were out on ❞ lists, we faced a problem of double votes getting registered in two separate wards. As candidates, we too faced problems as we somehow wrongly campaigned in 50 other houses in the area adjoining our ward. ❞ ❞ AAP candidate Aruna Arora, WARD NO. 33 Pawan Kumar, CONG CANDIDATE Raman Arora, AAP MLA, JALANDHAR CENTRAL Saturday to cast their votes for the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation elections faced a tough task in locating the polling booths where they were to cast their votes. The voters said that they had been told that since there had been a delimitation of wards, their booths had changed Continued on page 2 c m y b Congress candidate Paramjot S Sherry Chadha, won from Ward No. 28, and his wife Prabhjot Kaur, who won from Ward No. 27, in Jalandhar. TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Ward 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 Candidate Party Ashu Sharma INC Harpreet Walia INC Baljinder K Lubana AAP Jagir Singh AAP Navdeep Kaur AAP Gurnam S Multani INC Nirmal Kaur INC Amardeep Sandal AAP Vandana Tulsi AAP Balbir Bittu AAP Karamjeet Kaur AAP Shivam Sharma BJP Sunita Rani AAP Bantu Sabharwal AAP Manjit Kaur AAP Rajinder Mintu AAP Satya Devi BJP Kanwar Sartaj BJP Manjeet Kaur BJP Manmohan S Raju AAP Pinderjit Kaur AAP Love Robin AAP Paramjit Kaur INC Amit Dhall AAP Uma Beri INC Vikas Talwar INC Prabhjot Kaur INC Paramjot Sherry INC Meenu BJP Jasleen Sethi INC Anup Kaur AAP Balraj Thakur INC Aruna Arora AAP Davinder Sood BSP Harsharan K Happy INC Pawan Kumar INC Sarabjit Kaur INC Malkeet Singh AAP Manjeet Kaur AAP Ajay Kumar BJP Shabnam BJP Rommi AAP Sunita Tikka AAP Raj Kumar Raju AAP Rupa Bhagat AAP Tarsem Lakhotra Ind Manmeet Kaur INC Harjinder Ladda AAP Neha INC Manjit S Titu BJP Rani Devi BJP Nirmal Kumar INC Jyoti BJP Shobha BJP Tarvinder Kumar Soi BJP Mukesh Sethi AAP Kavita Seth AAP Manish AAP Charanjit K Sandha BJP Gurjit Ghumman AAP Madhu Sharma INC Vaneet Dhir AAP Sulekha Bhagat BJP Rajeev Dhingra BJP Parveen Wason INC Gurvinder Bunty INC Kamaljit Kaur INC Avinash Kumar AAP Harsimran Kaur AAP Jatin Gulati AAP Rajni Bahri INC Hitesh Garewal AAP Ramandeep Bali AAP Ravi Kumar BJP Reena Kaur INC Rajesh Thakur AAP Rimpi Prabhakar BJP Deepak Sharda AAP Maninder Kaur INC Ashwani Aggarwal AAP Seema Rani Ind Gurdeep S BJP Jaspal Kaur AAP Neeraj Jassal INC Davinder Kaur Sonu BJP