The ruling Congress on Wednesday won seven municipal corporations in Punjab’s state local body polls, media organisations reported. However, according to a PTI update at 3:45 pm, the party had won six seats.

The results for seven corporations -- Moga, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Abohar, Pathankot, Batala, and Bathinda -- were declared on Wednesday, and Congress had clearly sweeped all of them, according to media organisations.

The win in Bathinda, represented by Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal in the Lok Sabha, came as a surprise after 53 years.

Manpreet Singh Badal, who represents the Bathinda urban assembly seat, tweeted expressing happiness over the win. “Bathinda will get a Congress Mayor for the 1st time in 53 years!

Thank you to ALL Bathinda residents,” he said.

The counting of votes started at 9 am for elections to 2,302 wards of eight municipal corporations and 109 municipal councils in the state.

The State Election Commission had ordered on Tuesday re-polling at two polling booths of the Mohali Municipal Corporation. Therefore, the counting for the entire civic body will take place on Thursday.

Tight security arrangements have been made at the counting centres, they further said.

Over 70 per cent voting was recorded in the civic body elections on February 14.

A total of 9,222 candidates were in the fray, of which 2,832 were independents, 2,037 from the ruling Congress and 1,569 from the Shiromani Akali Dal. The BJP, AAP and the BSP had fielded 1,003, 1,606 and 160 candidates respectively.

The BJP and the Akali Dal, which walked out of the National Democratic Alliance last year over the farm laws issue, have fought the elections separately.