Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scored a sweeping victory in the state’s local body elections, winning nearly half of all contested wards across municipal corporations, councils and nagar panchayats, according to official results announced Friday.

AAP secured 958 of the 1,897 wards contested across eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 19 nagar panchayats, accounting for 48.45 per cent of the total seats.

The opposition Congress party finished a distant second with 397 wards, or 20.08 per cent. The Shiromani Akali Dal won 192 wards (9.71 per cent), while the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 172 wards (8.70 per cent). The Bahujan Samaj Party won seven wards.

Independent candidates performed strongly, capturing 251 wards — or 12.69 per cent — a tally higher than both the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP individually.

The elections were held May 26 across Punjab’s urban local bodies. Polling took place for eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 19 nagar panchayats.

Punjab’s State Election Commission had established 115 counting centres across the state’s 23 districts, with multi-layered security deployed outside the facilities during vote counting.

Officials said nearly 80 candidates had already been elected unopposed before polling day.

According to election authorities, a total of 2,238,241 voters cast ballots in the civic polls, producing a voter turnout of about 64 per cent.