27052026-LT-01.qxd 5/27/2026 1:01 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune MAJOR FIRE AT PSPCL STATION IN DORAHA, TRAGEDY AVERTED US ACADEMIC HONOUR FOR 50-YR-OLD HOSHIARPUR NATIVE HEMA FEELS DHARMENDRA’S PRESENCE AT PADMA HONOUR The fire damaged several transformers kept in the power corporation office in Doraha. P2 Vijay Kumar Ratti was recognised with special purple honour cords attached to his graduation cap. P3 BJP MP Hema Malini received the Padma Vibhushan on behalf of her late husband, Dharmendra. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 44°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 43°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7.16 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:23 AM » WEDNESDAY | 27 MAY 2026 | LUDHIANA Dist sees 64.82% voter turnout Fate of 452 candidates sealed, few incidents of violence reported Polling largely peaceful in Payal, Doraha wards Lovleen Bains MC POLLS Shivani Bhakoo & Mahesh Sharma Tribune Reporters Ludhiana, May 26 The total turnout of voters during the MC elections remained at 64.82 per cent and with that the fate of total 452 candidates from all political parties was sealed on Tuesday during the MC elections that took place at six places in Ludhiana — Doraha, Payal, Samrala, Khanna, Jagraon and Raikot. In Payal, there was a maximum of 80.10 per cent voter turnout whereas Khanna witnessed a minimum of 61.91 per cent. Doraha saw 69.43 per cent, Jagraon 63.67 per cent, Raikot 70.14 per cent and Samrala 68.06 per cent polling. Meanwhile, the polling for the municipal councils passed off with incidents of violence and confrontation at sensitive and hypersensitive wards of Jagraon and Raikot. In the Jagraon area, leaders supporting their respective candidates Voters stand in queues to exercise their franchise at a polling booth in Doraha. Payal 80.10% | Khanna 61.91 % | Doraha 69.43 % | Jagraon 63.67 % | Raikot 70.14 % | Samrala 68.06 % objected the entry of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator Sarabjit Kaur Manuke and heated arguments were exchanged between the sitting AAP MLA and workers and supporters from other parties. The police remained on toes handling confrontation among activists of AAP and rival parties. Bharat Bhushan Ashu, for- mer Congress minister, also objected and snubbed AAP MLA Sarabjit Kaur Manuke for going inside the polling booth in Jagraon. He said Manuke had right to stand outside the booth but inside, only voters had the right to cast the vote. Voters, including elderly persons, differently abled and patients, braved the scorching heat to reach polling booths and exercise their right to franchise. Polling started at a slow pace in the morning. However, long queues started were witnessed around noon. Polling was conducted from 8 am to 5 pm at 257 polling stations set up across 108 wards. Elaborate arrangements were made to ensure smooth, peaceful polling in all Municipal Councils, still a few untoward incidents were reported. Adequate security personnel were deployed in and around the polling stations and sensitive locations to maintain law and order during the electoral process. While the MC elections were marred with violence and tensions at several places, social media was abuzz with regular updates. Payal/ Doraha, May 26 Polling for the civic body elections was reported to be largely peaceful in Payal and Doraha today. Payal recorded 80.10% of voter turnout while in Doraha 69.43% of the voters exercised their right to franchise. The voters as well as the supporters, both in Doraha and Payal, opined that arrangements were proper and the polling process was smooth, with no major issues reported. “The arrangements were in place and everything went smoothly,” said a voter outside a booth in Doraha. A verbal spat is, however, said to have taken place between the local MLA and a journalist covering the elections. He alleged that the local MLA misbehaved with him. The MLA, Manwinder Singh Giaspura, however, denied the charge, saying he had not done anything wrong and that he would not tolerate “nuisance” in his area. Former Congress MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha alleged that the MLA was visiting polling booths without any reason. He also alleged of wrong voting at one of the booths. Some of the voters, especially senior citizens found voting Khanna SSP Darpan Ahluwalia takes stock of security arrangements outside a polling station in Payal on Tuesday. through ballot paper time consuming, exhausting and tedious. “Unlike EVMs, the ballot process involves a six-step exercise. It took me 12 to 15 minutes to complete the entire process.,” said 80-year-old Usha Rani in Doraha’s Ward 11. First-time voter Sukhmannat Kaur said: “It is my first voting experience. I have had such a wonderful feeling for the first time as we had been learning about a democratic set up but have experienced it today for the first time with our own eyes. Everything was transparent and in place.” SDM-cum-returning officer of Payal Preet Inder Singh Bains said the entire voting process was peaceful. “I had issued special instructions to polling staff Ex-minister Gurkirat Kotli stages protest over ‘missing votes, booth irregularities’ Sukhpreet Singh Tribune News Service An octogenarian woman reaches a polling booth on a wheeled seat with the help of her son in Ahmedgarh. With 80.33% polling, Amargarh leads in Malerkotla Mahesh Sharma Malerkotla, May 26 Polling for elections of 61 municipal councilors in Ahmedgarh, Amargarh and Malerkotla Municipal Councils passed off peacefully with a few incidents of minor scuffles and heated arguments at booths, which were already declared hypersensitive and sensitive. However, no formal complaint was registered at any of the police stations looking after security arrangements at polling stations falling under respective jurisdiction. Administration officials, led by Deputy Commissioner Viraj S Tidke and SSP Gurmit Singh, claimed that proactive arrangements had already been made for peaceful polling at 33 wards of Malerkotla, 17 wards of Ahmedgarh and 11 wards of Amargarh. Amargarh recorded a maximum percentage of voting 80.33 at the close of polling and Ahmedgarh finished at 72.27 per cent. A total of 68.56 of enrolled voters exercised their right to vote for Municipal Council, Malerkotla, with overall percentage being 69.09 per cent. SSP Gurmit Singh said special teams of police officials had been constituted with focus on prevention of crime of any kind during the elections. Efforts were made to deploy adequate and well-equipped police personnel at and near 141 polling booths, established at 52 polling stations of the civic bodies. The administration had 36 sensitive locations and 111 sensitive polling booths. 31 of these were identified as hypersensitive booths. Residents believe that voting percentage could have been higher, had all votes of deceased been deleted and people of various categories staying in foreign countries could have been at their home address. As candidates are more closely associated with their voters from their own locality they normally don’t afford their absence from the polling booth. Special arrangements are made to make arrangements for shifting of elderly, weak and sick voters to the polling booth. Ludhiana, May 26 The Municipal Council elections in Khanna witnessed high drama and protests on Tuesday after former minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli raised allegations of largescale deletion of votes and movement of AAP volunteers inside polling stations in different wards of the city. Tension prevailed outside the polling station set up at Himalaya Senior Secondary School in Ward 5 after several residents claimed that their names were missing from the voters’ list despite possessing official voter slips. The issue triggered protests outside the polling booth, where Kotli joined local residents and raised objections against the alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls. The controversy intensified after Congress candidate Neeru Rani, contesting from Ward 5, allegedly found that her vote was missing from the voters’ list of the ward from where she was contesting the elections. Later, her vote was reportedly traced to another polling booth, triggering resentment among Ex-minister Gurkirat Kotli protests outside a polling booth in Khanna. her supporters and local residents. Residents alleged that many voters reached the polling station early in the morning with voter slips issued by the authorities but polling officials informed them that their names were not available in the final electoral rolls. Several residents claimed they had been voting from the same booth for years and were shocked to discover that their names had allegedly been deleted. As protests intensified, the former minister accused the administration of serious lapses and alleged that similar complaints of vote deletions were being received from several wards across the city. He also staged another protest in Ward 15 after alleging that AAP volunteers and outsiders were moving freely inside polling stations and issuing voter slips on the spot. Heated arguments were witnessed between Kotli and some persons present near the polling area, following which Congress workers and residents raised slogans outside the booth and demanded strict action from the election authorities. Kotli alleged that the ruling AAP government was making every possible effort to “kill democracy” during the civic body elections. He claimed that genuine voters were being deprived of their democratic rights through deletion of votes while ruling party volunteers were allegedly influencing the polling process from inside booths. “The administration must ensure free and fair elections. Genuine voters are being harassed despite carrying valid voter slips. We are receiving complaints of vote deletions from several wards, while AAP volunteers are moving inside polling stations and issuing slips on the spot,” Kotli alleged while addressing protesters. He said formal complaints regarding the alleged irregularities had been submitted to the poll authorities and demanded immediate intervention to ensure transparent polling. SDM Swati Tiwana said, “I have received a complaint and the issue was resolved as voters have been given their polling booth where they can cast votes and officials were deputed to resolve their other issues.” Kotli alleged booth capturing was held at Ward 15 where booth number 60 and 61 were captured by volunteers of AAP which was a seri, ous issue and black day of democracy. Meanwhile, election officials maintained that polling was being conducted peacefully and any complaint received from candidates or residents would be examined as per rules. that each voter, standing in the queue, even at the time of culmination, must be entertained even if it meant continuing the process beyond the specified time,” the SDM added. Returning Officer, Doraha, Nirpal Singh, said the entire voting passed peacefully. Meanwhile, elaborate security arrangements were in place for the Doraha and Payal municipal council elections under the supervision of SSP Khanna Dr Darpan Ahluwalia. Doraha SHO Akash Dutt admonished a number of persons found loitering within 200 m of polling booths. Dr Ahluwalia said troublemakers were identified from time to time and social media was also being monitored. No wheelchair facility for voters in Samrala Sukhpreet Singh Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 26 While polling for the Samrala Municipal Council elections began peacefully on Tuesday, the administration faced criticism over the lack of wheelchair facilities for elderly and specially-abled voters at several booths. Many elderly and disabled voters had to face inconvenience as no wheelchairs were available at polling stations despite claims of elaborate arrangements by the administration for smooth elections. In many cases, kin and local residents were seen carrying disabled persons in their arms to polling booths. The issue exposed gaps in the arrangements made for voter convenience during the civic polls. Voters said basic facilities should have been ensured for senior citizens and differently-abled persons. Meanwhile, polling continued peacefully across 12 wards of the Samrala MC. Three wards — Ward No. 1, Ward No. 4 and Ward No. 12 — had already been declared elected unopposed earlier. Samrala SDM Gursimrajit Kaur visited a polling booth after complaints surfaced regarding the absence of wheelchairs. She assured voters that wheelchair had been arranged shortly to facilitate the needy. Postal officer crushed to death by speeding truck Bizman robbed of scooter Tribune News Service udhiana, May 26 In a heart-wrenching incident, a government employee was killed on the spot after she fell from a motorcycle and was run over by a speeding truck in the Hambran area of Ludhiana on Tuesday morning. The deceased has been identified as Ravita, a resident of Bahadurke Road, who was working as an officer at the post office in Jagraon. She was riding pillion on a motorcycle when the accident occurred. According to police and eyewitness accounts, Ravita was going to Jagraon for duty along with her colleague Akashdeep Singh. As their motorcycle reached near the HDFC Bank in Hambran, a pedestrian suddenly darted across the road. The biker lost control due to the same, causing Ravi- c m y b ta to fall onto the middle of the road. A speeding truck coming from behind crushed her before she could get up. The truck’s tyre reportedly ran over her head, leading to her death on the spot. Sources said Ravita was a widow and she was single-handedly raising her only child after the death of her husband. Her death has left her minor daughter orphaned. Upon receiving information, a police team from Hambran under the Ladhowal police station reached the spot. The body was kept in a mortuary for a post-mortem while the truck involved in the accident was seized. Further investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events and identify the pedestrian who caused the initial collision. Ludhiana, May 26 Two bike-borne miscreants robbed a hosiery businessman near Jodhewal Basti Chowk here on Tuesday. They fled with his scooter after pointing a sharp weapon. The victim, businessman Kundan Lal, said he visits the Hanuman temple in Phillaur every Tuesday to pay obeisance. This morning, when he was on his way to the temple on his Honda Activa, two men on a motorcycle stopped him. The miscreants were armed with rods and sharp weapons. To save his life, he abandoned the two-wheeler and escaped from the place. The suspects also threatened him. He alleged that after the incident, he sought help from a policeman posted outside the Basti Jodhewal police station but police officials said the incident did not occur in their jurisdiction. Later, he filed a complaint at the Sundar Nagar police station. — TNS