More Stories

Informist, Friday, May 29, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – Aam Aadmi Party National Convener Arvind Kejriwal Friday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party after his party swept the elections to municipal bodies in Punjab, saying the "ED Party has been wiped out".

 

"The ED Party harassed small businessmen and traders by conducting so many raids. Today, people have avenged it," Kejriwal posted on social media platform X as AAP bagged 939 of the total 1,897 seats across the state by 2000 IST, relegating the BJP to fifth position with only 167 seats.

 

The Indian National Congress, whom AAP had defeated in the 2022 assembly election to come to power in Punjab for the first time, remained a distant second with 376 seats. In third place were independents with a tally of 248. The Shiromani Akali Dal won 189 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party seven.

 

Elections to 102 municipal bodies--eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils, and 19 nagar panchayats--with a total of 1,897 seats among them were held Tuesday. The counting of votes began at 0800 IST Friday.

 

In a subsequent post, Kejriwal alleged that the Enforcement Directorate plans to raid several businessmen in the coming days after the results. "All businessmen should stay alert. Our government is in full support of businesses. Let's get the ED Party fully out of Punjab," he said.

 

Kejriwal's lieutenant Manish Sisodia, former deputy chief minister of Delhi, said "1,142 candidates of the ED Party" had lost their deposits. "The terror of ED, and the politics of hate and treachery don't work in Punjab," he said.

 

The Opposition has been accusing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre of misusing central agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, to harass its leaders and to engineer defections. Last month, seven Rajya Sabha members of AAP switched to the BJP, many of them allegedly under pressure from the directorate. The defections came just days after the agency had conducted searches at more than 10 premises linked to AAP Rajya Sabha member Ashok Kumar Mittal and the residence of Punjab Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora in connection with a case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

 

Meanwhile, state Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring alleged that the AAP government in Punjab had misused official machinery to win the elections. "It was their (AAP's) stated policy of 'saam, daam, dand, bhed' (by hook or by crook) that was nakedly displayed during the municipal elections across Punjab," Warring wrote on X as he congratulated Congress workers for putting up a brave fight.

 

"I reaffirm and reiterate that the AAP will not win even 10 seats in 2027 (assembly elections). The AAP may celebrate the 'stolen glory' of municipal elections, but the celebrations will prove quite short-lived with an expiry date of February 2027," he added.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.