As many as 7,555 candidates are in fray for 105 urban local bodies, including eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 21 Nagar panchayats across Punjab, the polls for which will be held on May 26.However, neither of the political parties, even the ruling AAP, has managed to field candidates in all 1,977 wards.The State Election Commission Punjab today informed that 1,801 candidates from AAP, 1,550 from Congress, 1,316 from the BJP, 1,251 from the SAD, 96 from the BSP, 1,528 candidates as Independent and 13 others will contest the elections. The counting of votes will be held on May 29.The contest has been overshadowed by the Opposition’s allegations of arbitrary rejection of nomination papers. Earlier, nomination papers of 713 candidates were rejected during scrutiny on May 18, while a total of 2,393 candidates withdrew their nomination papers after scrutiny, including 386 from MCs, 1,695 from municipal councils and 312 from nagar panchayats. A total of 79 candidates have already been elected unopposed.With around 36.73 lakh voters eligible to cast ballots – roughly 17.1 percent of Punjab’s total electorate of nearly 2.14 crore voters – these elections are being seen as the first major test of public sentiment after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.There are municipal councils and nagar panchayats in every district of Punjab, which influence close to 90 of the state’s 117 Assembly segments.The ruling AAP dominated the elections to the five municipal corporations and 44 municipal councils and nagar panchayats, besides bypolls to 49 wards of other urban civic bodies, held on December 21, 2024.