The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has won the Kotkapura Municipal Council elections, officially securing 18 of the 29 wards, as counting of votes is still underway. The ruling party’s momentum was heavily anchored by two unopposed victories. In Ward 22, Gurpreet Singh Wirring won his seat without contest, a feat mirrored in Ward 23, where AAP’s Pooja Rani also cruised to an unopposed victory.
In the contested battlegrounds, AAP managed to hold off its rivals with steady margins. Party candidate Daljeet Kaur emerged victorious in Ward 2 by defeating her closest opponent by a margin of 70 votes.
Similarly, Anita Arora of the AAP secured another seat for the party, winning her ward by 104 votes.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has won two wards. In Ward 7, SAD candidate Surjit Kaur clinched a hard-fought victory, edging out the competition by a slim margin of just 18 votes. Congress has managed to won one ward so far.
Kotkapura has a total of 29 wards. The elections were held on Tuesday, i.e. on May 26. The elections are being keenly watched by political observers as they are being considered crucial for all major political parties - AAP, BJP, Congress and SAD - as these are taking place ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly polls. In 75 municipal councils, 5,142 candidates were in the fray in 1,282 wards, while 800 candidates were in the fray in 218 wards of 20 Nagar Panchayats. There are 35,45,567 registered voters for these municipal bodies, which include 17,11,635 women and 220 others.
Ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) fielded the maximum number of candidates at 1,801, followed by 1,550 candidates of the Congress, 1,316 nominees of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 1,251 candidates of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and 96 nominees of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Besides, there are 1,528 Independent candidates for the local body elections.
