The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged the single-largest party in the Mohali municipal corporation (MC) elections, winning 27 out of 50 wards. The Congress, which was in power in the outgoing House, managed to win 12 wards, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) secured four, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) three and Independent candidates walked away with four seats.AAP candidate Dr Sunny Ahluwalia celebrating with supporters after winning the municipal corporation at counting centre in Phase 7 Mohali on Friday. (Ravi Kumar/HT)This was a striking turnaround from the 2021 MC polls when AAP had secured only nine seats while Congress held 37 out of the 50 seats.HC appointed observer in Phase-7 centre Counting was conducted at two centres – Community Centre, Phase 7, where votes for Wards 1 to 25 were tallied, and Community Centre, Sector 69, where counting for Wards 26 to 50 took place. The declaration of results from the Phase 7 centre saw delays after Independent candidate and former deputy mayor Manjeet Singh Sethi approached the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking the appointment of an observer to oversee the counting process. The court-appointed observer monitored the proceedings before the counting process moved ahead.Congress candidates registered some of the most emphatic victories of the election. Baljit Kaur from Ward 37 secured the highest winning margin of 882 votes, followed by Anuradha Anand from Ward 12, who won by 829 votes. Harjeet Singh of Ward 30 won by 701 votes, while Parwinder Kaur of Ward 27 triumphed by 545 votes.Biggest winnersAmong AAP candidates, Rajinder Prasad Sharma Parsh from Ward 2 recorded the party’s biggest victory with a margin of 807 votes. Other major wins included Ramandeep Kaur in Ward 43 (560 votes), Rajni Goyal of Ward 23 (51 votes), Bachan Singh Boparai in Ward 38 (508 votes) and Sarabjeet Singh Samana in Ward 42 (458 votes).One-vote win in Ward 47The election also produced several cliff-hanger contests, highlighting the intensely competitive nature of the polls. The narrowest victory was recorded in Ward 47, where AAP candidate Parminder Kaur scraped through by just a single vote, making it one of the closest contests in Mohali’s electoral history. SAD candidate Harvinder Singh won Ward 22 by 27 votes, while AAP’s Nasib Singh Sandhu and BJP’s Gurpreet Kaur secured Wards 24 and 41 respectively with margins of 35 votes each. Congress candidate Gaurav Jain clinched Ward 20 by 39 votes, while AAP’s Ravinder Singh Bindra won Ward 28 by 40 votes.Keenly watched contestOne of the most closely watched contests was in Ward 6, where Dr Sunny Singh Ahluwalia, chairman of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB), defeated former deputy mayor and independent candidate Manjeet Singh Sethi by 269 votes. Following his victory, Dr Ahluwalia said, “I am happy that senior leaders of AAP gave me this responsibility. I am thankful to all the voters of Ward 6 who campaigned and voted for me. I am looking forward to fulfil my promise to resolve issue of sanitation, waste management and sewrage system.”Another significant victory came in Ward 42, where two-time councillor Sarabjeet Singh Samana emerged victorious by 458 votes. Samana is the son of Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh, who was the first mayor of Mohali.Big upsetIn one of the biggest upsets of the civic polls, Kanwarbir Singh Sidhu, son of senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu and nephew of former mayor Amarjeet Singh Sidhu, suffered a defeat in Ward 10 after independent candidate Paramjit Singh Kahlon took a lead of 131 votes.Family winsThe polls also witnessed notable family victories. In Wards 4 and 3, husband-wife duo Harbinder Singh and Gurmit Kaur won their respective wards.The family of former deputy mayor Rishav Jain celebrated a double success as his son Gaurav Jain won Ward 20 on a Congress ticket by 39 votes, while his wife Raj Rani secured Ward 21 with a margin of 261 votes.Political pendulum swings again: From SAD-BJP in 2015 to Congress in 2021 and AAP in 2026In 2015, the SAD-BJP alliance had dominated the civic body by winning 23 seats, while Congress secured 14 wards. The Azad Group led by Kulwant Singh had emerged as a major force with 10 seats, and Independents won two wards.The latest results indicate that Mohali’s electorate has successively shifted its support from the SAD-BJP alliance in 2015 to Congress in 2021 and now to AAP in 2026. The performance has strengthened AAP’s position in the city and given it a clear edge in the race to control the Municipal Corporation, while Congress has suffered one of its steepest declines in the civic body’s electoral history.Ballot-counterfoil error holds up results in 2 Mohali wards The counting process at Booth 7 of Ward 2 was delayed after polling agents flagged that ballot papers and their counterfoils were attached, potentially compromising the secrecy of the vote by making it possible to link voters with their ballots. Following the objection, election officials separated the counterfoils from the ballot papers before recounting the votes, leading to a delay in the declaration of results. A similar issue later surfaced during the counting of votes from Booth 2 in Ward 23.