Overview
- Four AAP councillors were chosen mayor by their peers on Thursday in Barnala, Bathinda, Moga and Batala following the late-May municipal elections, consolidating the party’s control of those corporations.
- Hasan Bhardwaj was elected Barnala’s first mayor after the city was upgraded to a municipal corporation and the AAP won 36 of 50 wards, with 49 councillors present to back him at the oath and vote.
- Padamjit Singh Mehta was unanimously re-elected Bathinda mayor and is a young, second-term leader, but his camp faces visible internal rivalry that included a reported pre-poll firing and a police case against unidentified persons.
- Vinaypal Kaur won the reserved backward-caste mayoral seat in Moga and Bhupinder Singh Bajwa was elected in Batala, with both spots reflecting the AAP’s ward-level majorities and the party’s push to elevate new or first-time officeholders.
- Control of these municipal corporations gives AAP direct responsibility for water supply, drainage, roads, waste and street lighting, so residents should expect focus on fixing waterlogging and sanitation even as local factional disputes and security concerns could affect delivery.