Chandigarh, May 22: The ruling SAD-BJP combine in Punjab yesterday notched up an emphatic win in Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections in the state romping home in majority of the seats.
The Congress-Peoples Party of Punjab alliance suffered a rout in the elections, polling for which was held on May 19.
Of the 333 Zila Parishad seats, the SAD-BJP combine pocketed around 250 and was ahead in majority of the remaining seats, officials said.
For Block Samitis, the combine bagged over 2500 out of 2732 seats and was leading in most of the others, they said.
The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP secured convincing majority in 14 of the total 22 Zila Parishads and 89 out of 146 Block Samitis.
Nearly 300 candidates were elected unopposed to Zila Parishads and Block Samitis, the officials said.
The polls, held every five years, were won by SAD-BJP last time also.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal thanked the people for reposing their faith in the SAD-BJP alliance.
"It is a victory for constructive politics based on a vision of peace and communal harmony. It is also a referendum on our government's performance," he said.
"At the same time, it is yet another defeat for those who indulged in cheap politics, negative propaganda and raised destructive slogans," the Chief Minister said.
"The SAD-BJP's sweeping victory is a mandate in favour positive work done at the ground level in the state," Badal said.
"The Congress has faltered yet again in assessing the people's mood who want a positive agenda for development," he said.
Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa dismissed as "mischievous" the claim of landslide victory by the SAD-BJP.
"It is not a popular mandate. The organised violence by the ruling alliance against Congress workers was intended to frustrate them.
"We have defeated the design of the SAD-BJP and ensured maximum possible participation of people. This is real victory for the people of Punjab," Bajwa said.
Deputy Chief Minister and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal described the poll results as a "death for the Congress as a political party in Punjab".
It was a a victory of substance over sensationalism, he said.
The SAD-BJP posted clear majority in Amritsar, Patiala, Faridkot, Bathinda, Kapurthala, Faridkot and Mohali Zila Parishads.
In Amritsar district, the party made a clean sweep winning all the nine Block Samitis, the officials said.
