Lambi/Chandigarh, December 19
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the SAD had actually come second in the Zila Paridhad and Block Samiti elections in the state and it also had a better overall strike rate than the Congress because it contested 673 lesser seats than the Congress due to large scale rejection of nomination papers of its candidates.
The SAD president, who honoured party Muktsar incharge Kanwarjit Singh Barkandi as well as all Zila Parishad and Block Samiti winners, including Manjit Singh Bittu and Kulwinder Kaur, at his residence in Badal village, said the most number of nominations of SAD candidates were rejected in the recent elections because the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government feared the SAD the most. “Aam Aadmi Party was able to get its 351 candidates elected unopposed out of a total of 2838 Block Samiti seats by using unfair means. It also succeeded in getting 1024 nomination papers of SAD candidates rejected on flimsy grounds or simply tore them”.
Badal said in the Block Samitis, the SAD won 445 seats out of 1814 contested seats and its strike rate is much better that Congress that contested on 2487 seats. Speaking about the huge victories the SAD has notched in Bathinda, Muktsar and Faridkot, Badal said the party would be able to get its candidates elected as Zila Parishad Chairpersons in these districts. He said the party was also likely to get its candidate elected as Chairpersons in nearly 15 constituencies, including the Mansa Block Samiti with one independent candidate – Raswinder Singh from Chakriya village joining the party to take its strength to 13 in a 25 member house.
Congratulating the Muktsar assembly team of the party for its overwhelming victory in the elections, Badal said SAD candidates won two out of the two Zila Parishad seats and 17 out of the 20 Block Samiti seats in Sri Muktsar Sahib constituency. He also pointed out that nearly a dozen senior leaders of AAP, including ministers and MLAs, couldn’t even win their home seats in Block Samiti elections.
He also honoured the party’s Kanewali and Udekaran zone winners – Kulwinder Kaur and Manjit Singh Bittu besides the Block Samiti winners on the occasion.
