30052026-ATR-01.qxd 5/30/2026 12:26 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 40°C | MIN 22°C YESTERDAY MAX 41°C | MIN 25°C EX-COUNCILLOR BOOKED AFTER ASSAULT ON FAMILY QUEENS, KINGMAKERS WHO SHAPED SIKH EMPIRE LEGACY SALMAN’S MAATRUBHUMI: MAY WAR REST IN PEACE Accused of forcibly entering a house along with several accomplices from his gym, assaulting a family. P2 Authors Chetna Keer, Ranjit Powar revisit overlooked women in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s court. P3 Salman Khan hosted a screening of the rough cut of his film Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace. P4 » » » SUNSET SATURDAY 7.29 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5.26 AM SATURDAY | 30 MAY 2026 | AMRITSAR AAP dominates Jandiala, Ramdas & Rayya civic elections Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 29 The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) registered a dominant performance in the civic body elections in Amritsar district by sweeping the municipal councils and nagar panchayats of Jandiala Guru, Ramdas and Rayya, besides securing a majority in the politically significant Majitha municipal council. The Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to win only a limited number of wards. Out of 15 wards in the Jandiala Guru municipal council, AAP won 11 seats, while two of its candidates had already been elected unopposed. Satinder Singh of AAP won from Ward No. 1, while SAD candidate Amanpreet Kaur emerged victorious from Ward No. 2. AAP candidates Avtar Singh, Kamaljit Kaur and Sarabjit Singh won Wards No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively. AAP candidates Narinder Singh and Nisha Malhotra won from Ward Nos. 7 and 8, respectively. Manjinder Singh secured Ward No. 9, Sunaina won Ward No. 10 and Gurmeet Kaur emerged victorious from Ward No. 11 for AAP Con. gress candidate Partap Singh won Ward No. 12. However, AAP continued its dominance as Raj Kumar A winning candidate of AAP from Jandiala Guru along with Cabinet Minister Harbhajan Singh in Amritsar. Malhotra won Ward No. 13, Manpreet Kaur secured Ward No. 14 and Amandeep Singh Virk emerged victorious from Ward No. 15. In the Ramdas municipal council elections, AAP secured an overwhelming majority by winning 11 wards. Kawaljit Kaur won Ward No. 1, Diljit Kumar emerged victorious from Ward No. 2 and Amandeep Kaur won Ward No. 3. Tarwinder Singh and Karajit Singh secured Wards No. 4 and 5, respectively. Rajiv Kumar Baggu won Ward No. 6, while Gurnit Kaur emerged victorious from Ward No. 7. Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Tarlochan Singh managed to win Ward No. 8, which remained the only setback for AAP in Ramdas. Paramjit Kaur won Ward No. 9, Garry Bhandari secured Ward No. 10 and Kanwaldeep Kaur emerged victorious from Ward No. 11 for AAP . In the Rayya nagar panchayat elections, AAP won 11 out of 13 wards. Congress candidate Jasbir Kaur won Ward No. 1, while AAP candidates Sarabjit Singh Mann, Amarveer Singh Azad and Sanjeev Kumar won Wards No. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Congress candidate Prabhjot Kaur secured victory from Ward No. 5. AAP candidate Sarabjit Singh won Ward No. 6. AAP candidates Neelam Rani, Rajinder Rikhi, Jyoti Bala, Sukhdev Singh, Rimpi Bhandari and Vishal Kumar emerged victorious from Wards No. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, respectively. Sarab- jit Kaur also secured Ward No. 13 for AAP . In the keenly contested Majitha municipal council elections, AAP managed to secure a majority despite a tough challenge from the Shiromani Akali Dal. AAP won seven seats, while SAD secured six. AAP candidate Poonam won Ward No. 1 by a narrow margin of 10 votes. SAD candidate Sharanjit Kaur emerged victorious from Ward No. 2, while AAP’s Sukhmeet Kaur won Ward No. 3 by 26 votes. SAD candidate Davinder Singh won Ward No. 4, while AAP candidate Sukhwinder Kaur secured victory from Ward No. 5. AAP candidates Udhy Singh and Nisha emerged victorious from Wards No. 6 and 7, respectively, while SAD candidate Narendra Nayyar won Ward No. 8. Bimla Wanti and Harvinder Singh of AAP won Wards No. 9 and 10, respectively. SAD candidates Jasbir Singh and Sukhwant Kaur secured Wards No. 11 and 12, while AAP candidate Rupa won Ward No. 13. The results are being viewed as a major political boost for the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Amritsar district ahead of future electoral battles. Party supporters celebrated the victories by distributing sweets and raising slogans in favour of the party leadership. Wins 30 seats to capture Batala civic body Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service A winning candidate of the Congress along with supporters in Patti. Gets majority in Bhikhiwind Gurbaxpuri Tarn Taran, May 29 The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the Patti municipal council elections by winning nine of the 19 wards, falling just one seat short of an absolute majority. Meanwhile, the ruling AAP secured a clear majority in the Bhikhiwind nagar panchayat elections, the counting for which was conducted under tight security here on Friday. In the Patti municipal council elections, the Congress won nine wards, followed by the ruling AAP with six seats. Four wards were won by can- didates backed by the Adesh Partap Singh Kairon group, who contested as Independents despite Kairon being a leader of the Akali Dal (Punar Surjit). The winning Congress candidates are Amandeep Kaur (Ward No. 3), Komal Kumar Jain (Ward No. 10), Sunita Rani (Ward No. 11), Balbir Kaur (Ward No. 13), Gurpreet Singh (Ward No. 14), Jagmeet Singh Bhullar (Ward No. 16), Karanbir Singh (Ward No. 17), Nishan Singh (Ward No. 18), and Manjinder Kaur (Ward No. 19). The victorious AAP candidates are Kulwinder Kaur continued on page 2 Batala, May 29 AAP wrested the Batala municipal corporation from the Congress by bagging 30 of the 50 seats at stake. The previous municipal house had been controlled by the Congress with a brute majority. The Congress came second with 18 seats while the BJP stood third with just two seats. It is a sharp drop from its previous efforts as the city was once considered a BJP stronghold. SAD was nowhere to be seen in the contest and it failed to open its account. The party had been riddled with dissensions ever since the polls were announced. Nobody had expected the party to fare so badly and pollsters had claimed it would bag anything between 5 to 7 seats. Despite the fact that former cabinet minister Anil Joshi and Congress leader Amandeep Jyantipuria had been camping in the city for the last few days, the Congress’s performance belied expectations. It was expecting to do an encore but fell far short of the total seats it continued on page 2 Protests erupt over Ward No. 7 result in Majitha Singh Majithia and AAP constituency in-charge Talbir Singh Gill. Majithia has traditionally enjoyed strong support in the constituency and his group earlier held a majority in the municipal council. After Majithia was jailed in the disproportionate assets case, Talbir Singh Gill, once considered close to him, joined the ruling party and strengthened his own political position in the area. As the battle for political dominance intensified, both camps treated the election results as a matter of prestige. From around 12.30 pm onwards, Bikram Singh Majithia repeatedly went live on social media and alleged irregularities and manipulation in the counting process. He claimed that despite Akali Dal candidates securing more votes in Ward No. 1 and Ward No. 3, their votes were deliberately cancelled and AAP candidates were unfairly declared winners. On the other hand, Talbir Singh Gill rejected the allegations and said there was no interference from the government or any official during the counting process. However, election officials appeared confused during the day and were seen issuing changing statements regarding the counting and results. Married woman ends Police destroy seized contraband Oppn parties perform life, husband arrested poorly in elections No party secures clear majority in Pathankot Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Former Congress MLA Harminder Singh Gill thanks the voters in Patti. PHOTO GURBAXPURI. Cong improves showing in Patti Gurbaxpuri Tarn Taran, May 29 The Congress party managed to improve its performance in the elections to the Nagar Council, Patti, though the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured an absolute majority in the Nagar Panchayat elections in Bhikhiwind. Elections were held for a total of 32 wards. Of these, the ruling AAP won 13 wards, followed by the Congress with 11 seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secured three wards, while five wards went to independent candidates. Former Congress MLA Harminder Singh Gill emerged as the key leader whose working style won appreciation even from his opponents. Working almost single-handedly, Gill managed to help the Congress capture nine of the 19 wards in Patti. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, failed to open its account despite contesting from 17 wards in Patti and Bhikhiwind. In the closely fought Nagar Council election in Patti, the Congress won nine out of 19 wards in the House, falling just one short of a majority. The SAD chose to stay away from the contest for one reason or another. Several SAD workers expressed resentment over the party’s decision to remain out of the election, while a number of party workers shifted to other political parties. Amritsar, May 29 Majitha witnessed a day marked by tension, allegations and repeated recounting before the final results of the municipal council elections were officially declared around 4.30 pm on Friday. Election officials announced that the Shiromani Akali Dal won six wards, while the Aam Aadmi Party secured victory in five wards. However, the AAP had already won two wards unopposed earlier. With a total of seven councillors in the 13-member municipal council, the party succeeded in securing a majority in the Majitha municipal council. The counting process remained controversial throughout the day. In a dramatic development, Congress candidate Pradeep Kaur from Ward No. 7 came out of the counting centre in the afternoon claiming she had won the election and would soon receive her victory certificate. SAD leader Bikram Majithia alleges manipulation during vote counting Congress workers during a protest outside a counting centre in Amritsar on Friday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Congress workers also began celebrating the alleged victory. However, when the official results were declared in the evening, the Aam Aadmi Party candidate was announced as the winner from Ward No. 7. Following the announcement, Congress leaders led by Bhagwantpal Singh Sachar and Navdeep Singh Sona staged a protest outside the counting centre. The Majitha municipal council election had turned into a prestige battle between senior Akali leader Bikram Tribune News Service Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 29 A 30-year-old married woman allegedly died by suicide by hanging at her residence in Gandiwind village under the Sarai Amanat Khan police station area a few days ago. On Thursday, the police registered a case against her husband, Sarwan Singh, a resident of Gandiwind, in connection with the incident that occurred five days earlier. The deceased has been identified as Rajwinder Kaur. She had been married to Sarwan Singh for about 10 years and is survived by two children — a 9-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter. Sukhdev Singh, the vic- tim’s father and a resident of Amarkot, stated that he received a call from his sonin-law, Sarwan Singh, on the morning of May 24, informing him that Rajwinder Kaur had died of a heart attack. However, Sukhdev Singh alleged that Sarwan Singh used to physically assault his daughter, and claimed that the alleged harassment led Rajwinder Kaur to take the extreme step. Sub-Inspector Dilbag Singh said that a case has been registered against Sarwan Singh under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in this regard. The police have arrested the accused and further investigation is underway. Amritsar, May 29 The Amritsar Commissionerate Police on Friday destroyed seized narcotic substances linked to 218 cases registered under the NDPS Act. The disposal process was carried out at Khanna Paper Mill under the supervision of the Drug Disposal Committee constituted by the Commissionerate Police on the directions of Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar. The committee comprised DCP (Investigation) Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu, ADCP Gurpratap Singh Sahota and ACP Jaswinder Singh. The contraband was destroyed by dumping it into an industrial boiler in accordance with prescribed legal procedures. Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service The seized drugs being destroyed by policemen in Amritsar. According to police officials, the destroyed narcotics included 11.550 kg of heroin, 5.523 kg of smack, 13.891 kg of intoxicating powder, 4.480 kg of charas and 11.250 kg of poppy husk. Besides, 14,986 intoxicating capsules, 4,677 tablets, 213 injections, intoxicant bottles and syrup were c m y b also destroyed. The officials said the exercise was part of the state government’s intensified campaign against drug abuse and trafficking. They reiterated the commitment of the Commissionerate Police to curb the narcotics menace and ensure strict action against drug peddlers. Amritsar, May 29 The opposition parties performed poorly in the municipal elections held for the municipal councils of Jandiala Guru, Majitha and Ramdas, besides the nagar panchayat of Rayya, with the Congress emerging as the biggest loser in the contests. The Congress failed to open its account in Majitha and Ramdas, while it managed to secure victory in only one ward in Jandiala Guru and two wards in Rayya. The party had contested all seats with full strength and high expectations, but the final results fell far short of its claims and campaign projections. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also failed to deliver a strong overall performance. However, the party managed to retain some political ground by winning six wards in the Majitha municipal council and one ward each in Ramdas and Jandiala Guru. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which traditionally has a limited support base in the rural towns of Amritsar district, also failed to make any noticeable impact in these elections. Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) registered a sweeping victory across the urban local bodies, further continued on page 2 Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Pathankot, May 29 The results of the Pathankot Municipal Corporation elections were mired in controversy following a dispute over the counting of votes in Ward No. 47. Earlier, election officials had announced that the BJP secured 22 seats, while the Congress won 18 and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) bagged 10 seats in the 50-member municipal corporation house. However, the official declaration of the final results was halted after authorities ordered a recounting of votes in Ward No. 47 amid objections continued on page 2