Even as the nomination process for the municipal council election formally began on Tuesday, major political parties in Ropar district were still struggling to finalise and announce their candidates for the councils of Ropar, Anandpur Sahib and Nangal.With the election process gaining momentum, hectic political activity was witnessed across the district as parties held meetings with aspirants and local leaders to settle ticket distribution. The delay in the announcement of candidates has also triggered uncertainty among party workers and hopeful contenders in several wards.The Congress, which is trying to regain political ground in urban local bodies, was yet to release its final list of candidates for all three municipal councils. Senior Congress leader and former speaker of Punjab Assembly KP Singh Rana said that the process of shortlisting candidates was underway at the municipal council level, and the party was consulting local leadership before finalising names.“The candidates are being shortlisted at the municipal council level. The final list is likely to be declared within a day or two,” Rana said while talking to The Tribune.BJP has also not announced its candidates so far, though the party maintained that it would contest the election independently in all three municipal councils without entering into any alliance. Punjab BJP vice-president Subhash Sharma, who is overseeing party’s preparations for the municipal election in the district, said BJP was in the final stages of ticket distribution.He said that the party would declare its candidates within the next two days. According to Sharma, the delay was caused by last-minute changes in reservation rosters by the Punjab Government, which forced the party to reconsider several names.“The reservation roster was changed at the last moment, because of which several candidates had to be replaced and fresh consultations became necessary,” Sharma said.He also criticised the AAP government for deciding to conduct the municipal election through ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines (EVMs). Sharma alleged that the move was aimed at manipulating the election process.Meanwhile, the ruling AAP has completed much of its groundwork for the election. Party sources said that lists of candidates for the three municipal councils had already been prepared and forwarded to the party high command for approval.AAP MLA from Ropar, Dinesh Chadha, confirmed that the candidate selection process had been completed at the local level.“The list of candidates for the municipal council poll has been finalised and sent to the party high command for final approval,” Chadha said.The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has so far taken the lead in officially announcing candidates for the municipal election in the district. SAD has already declared 10 candidates for Ropar Municipal Council election. However, the party is yet to finalise its nominees for Anandpur Sahib and Nangal municipal councils.Party sources indicated that the Akali Dal was likely to field candidates in Anandpur Sahib municipal council election, but the party could face difficulties in identifying suitable candidates in Nangal, where it was dependent on its earlier alliance partner BJP.Political observers believe that the delay in announcement of candidates by most parties reflects intense competition at the local level and factional lobbying within party ranks.With nominations having commenced, political activity is expected to intensify further in the coming days as parties rush to complete candidate selection and launch ward-level campaigns across the district.