AAP wins Punjab's civic polls while SAD and BJP trail

Who: Urban voters in Punjab, choosing councillors in 8 municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 19 nagar panchayats; and the parties that contested: AAP under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of Sukhbir Singh Badal, and the BJP.

What: Polling was held on 26 May 2026 and results came on Friday 29 May. Of 1,977 wards, 80 were filled unopposed and the rest were contested by 7,555 candidates, with turnout of about 64 per cent. ThePrint's tally gave AAP 958 wards, Congress 397, independents 251, SAD 192, BJP 172 and BSP 7. AAP won five of the eight corporations, among them SAS Nagar (Mohali), where it took 27 of 50 wards; The Week also lists Moga, Barnala, Bathinda and Batala as comfortable AAP wins, and reports that AAP took 20 of 21 wards in Dhuri, Mann's own constituency. Congress won Kapurthala outright, with 31 of 50 wards. The BJP won Abohar, with 28 of 50, and had the most wards in Pathankot, 20 of 50, without a majority. SAD won no majority in any civic body. Mann called the result "the victory of the policies of the government". Congress state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accused AAP of having "abused power and misused official machinery". Sukhbir Badal said the people had "clearly shown where their faith lies", and Arvind Kejriwal called the BJP the "ED party".

Where: Urban Punjab, from Dhuri and Mohali to Abohar and Pathankot.

Why it mattered: It was the first statewide vote after six of AAP's Punjab Rajya Sabha members went over to the BJP, and came months before the Assembly elections due in early 2027. ThePrint credited AAP's hold on lower and middle income urban voters to its anti-drug campaign and welfare schemes, and described Congress as held back by factionalism and the BJP as lacking the organisation to stand alone in urban Punjab. SAD, the party that long claimed to speak for the Panth, won under 10 per cent of the wards (192 of 1,977) and was described as a dwindling force. An academic quoted by ThePrint, Dr Kanwalpreet Kaur, said the results guarantee nothing for 2027 but give AAP a psychological and political edge. The Week noted that local body polls in Punjab have traditionally favoured the party in power.