Mohali, Dec. 18 -- The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won a majority in the Panchayat Samiti elections across Mohali district, the results of which were announced on Wednesday. The polling for 52 panchayat samiti seats spread across three blocks - Dera Bassi (22), Kharar (15) and Majri (15), was held on December 14, with as many as 206 candidates in the fray. Of the total 52 seats, AAP secured 24 seats, followed by the Congress with 14 and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) with 12, while two seats were won by independent candidates. District election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Komal Mittal said the counting process was carried out peacefully and transparently. The counting began at 8 am and concluded without any untoward incident. In Kharar, AAP won seven of the 15 seats, Congress five, SAD two, and one seat went to an independent candidate. Majri emerged as the strongest block for the SAD, which won eight seats, while AAP secured five seats, Congress one, and an independent candidate won one seat. In Dera Bassi, AAP registered its strongest performance by winning 12 of the 22 seats, while Congress won eight and SAD two. The elections recorded an overall voter turnout of 54.93% in the district. Majri reported the highest turnout at 56.86%, followed closely by Dera Bassi at 56.31%, while Kharar recorded a turnout of 49.95%. Beyond seat tallies, the vote share also indicated AAP's stronghold in the district. Of the 1,16,851 valid votes polled across all seats, AAP secured the highest vote count with 35,033 votes. The SAD followed with 30,115 votes, while the Congress got 29,571 votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), contesting the zila parishad polls independently for the first time in Punjab, polled 13,048 votes but failed to win a single seat. Mohali's political equations have shifted over the past five years. In the 2020 Mohali municipal corporation (MC) elections, the Congress had dominated the civic body by winning 38 of the 50 seats, while AAP managed only eight, with four seats going to independents. That balance of power was decisively overturned in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, when AAP swept all three assembly seats in the district. With Mohali MC polls due in February 2026, the panchayat samiti results are being viewed as 'ground reality' by parties. Mohali AAP MLA Kulwant Singh said, "AAP's victory shows that people are trusting and liking the party's vision for Punjab. We are confident of winning in the upcoming civic body polls too." Senior BJP leader Vineet Joshi said that the party's vote base had improved. "Till now, BJP and SAD used to contest together as an alliance. Despite our first attempt as an independent party, the BJP vote share is encouraging," he said....