The much-awaited election to two vacant councillor seats of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation’s Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) ended with a surprise outcome on Saturday, as AAP councillor Yuvraj Sidhu, son of Atam Nagar MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu, and Congress councillor Gaurav Bhatti emerged victorious. AAP’s second candidate, Aman Bagga, son of MLA Madan Lal Bagga, lost the contest despite the ruling party having a numerical advantage in the House.Voting through a secret ballot began at around 11.30 am at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan and was completed by about 12.40 pm. However, the result took nearly three hours to be declared, with Mayor Inderjit Kaur announcing the outcome after the counting and scrutiny process.Six MLAs — Hardip Singh Mundia, Madan Lal Bagga, Kulwant Singh Sidhu, Rajinderpal Kaur Chinna, Ashok Prashar Pappi and Daljit Singh Grewal — also had votes in the election.Four candidates were in the fray: Yuvraj Sidhu and Aman Bagga from the AAP, Gaurav Bhatti from the Congress and Ruchi Gulati from the BJP. In the first-preference count, Yuvraj secured 37 votes, followed by Aman Bagga with 22, Gaurav Bhatti with 19 and Ruchi Gulati with 15. Seven ballot papers were declared invalid due to incorrect markings.Related News: Ludhiana MC finance panel poll: Congress fields Gaurav Bhatti, BJP yet to pick faceRelated News: F&CC poll on Aug 25; AAP backs sons of 2 MLAs again, BJP fields Ruchi GulatiThe final counting under the prescribed preferential voting procedure saw Yuvraj and Bhatti secure the two F&CC seats. The result was particularly significant for Bhatti, who had initiated the legal battle over the constitution of the committee.Bhatti had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July, challenging the earlier appointment of Yuvraj Sidhu and Aman Bagga to the two councillor seats. He had argued that the two members were required to be elected by councillors from among themselves under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, rather than nominated. The court subsequently directed the MC to hold an election. Both Yuvraj and Aman later resigned from the committee.The AAP subsequently fielded both councillors again for the fresh election. The decision had led to considerable political activity within the party in the days preceding the poll.A day before the election, the AAP held a meeting to discuss its voting strategy. Sources said the party discussed distributing its 48 councillor votes, along with the six MLA votes, between Yuvraj and Aman, with 27 votes each being considered for the two candidates.The actual voting, however, did not follow the expected pattern. Yuvraj received 37 first-preference votes, while Aman could secure only 22. Bhatti also benefited from support beyond the Congress camp, particularly in the preferential counting, indicating that some opposition votes went in his favour.The result has therefore raised questions within the AAP over why its two candidates did not receive similar support despite the party’s numerical strength.The election also marked the completion of a process that had remained embroiled in legal and political controversy for nearly two months. The F&CC is an important civic body panel dealing with financial and contractual matters of the corporation. The two councillor positions had remained vacant after the earlier appointments were challenged.The poll was conducted through a secret ballot and under videography, in line with the High Court directions and the procedure adopted by the MC. The election process was conducted in the presence of the Mayor and civic officials.