Punjab civic elections Tuesday to cover 103 urban local bodies across state

Voting for Punjab’s urban local body elections will take place Tuesday across eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 20 nagar panchayats, according to the Punjab State Election Commission.

The commission said 3,545,567 voters are eligible to cast ballots in the elections, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A total of 7,555 candidates are contesting the polls across the state.

According to information released by the commission, 1,613 candidates are contesting municipal corporation seats, while 5,142 candidates are in the fray for municipal councils and 800 candidates are contesting nagar panchayat seats.

The Punjab government has deployed around 35,000 employees for election duty. Punjab Police has also deployed approximately 32,000 personnel for security arrangements during polling.

The elections are expected to test the strength of major political parties in Punjab’s urban areas. According to election data, the Aam Aadmi Party has fielded the highest number of candidates at 1,801. The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded 1,316 candidates, the Congress party 1,550 candidates and the Shiromani Akali Dal 1,251 candidates.

The municipal elections will determine local governance bodies responsible for civic services including sanitation, roads, water supply and urban infrastructure across several Punjab cities and towns.