Amritsar, Jan 27 (PTI) Aam Aadmi Party's Jatinder Singh Bhatia was elected as the new mayor of Amritsar Municipal Corporation on Monday, even as Congress alleged that the ruling party "misused" government machinery in the mayoral polls.

Priyanka Sharma was elected as the senior deputy mayor and Anita Rani as deputy mayor of the municipal body, officials said.

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Punjab AAP chief Aman Arora said the party has been entrusted with an opportunity to serve the holy land of Amritsar.

"Our team will begin work immediately to transform Amritsar into a beautiful and well-developed city. The guarantees in our corporation manifesto will be implemented without delay. We extend our gratitude to the SAD councilors for their support," he said.

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Newly-elected mayor Bhatia thanked the AAP leadership and pledged to prioritise basic issues affecting the city.

"Amritsar's primary concerns, including cleanliness and sewerage problems, will be addressed immediately. I am grateful to the leadership and the councillors for keeping faith in me," he said.

The Congress, which was hopeful for the election of its candidate as mayor, slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accusing it of "misusing" the government machinery.

Following the election of AAP councillors in the mayoral polls, the Congress led by its Punjab unit chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and senior leader Partap Singh Bajwa staged a protest outside the government medical college, which was the venue for the mayoral elections.

Warring alleged that the AAP's "relentless thirst for power has reached new extremes".

"Deploying the police commissioner and the entire police force to prevent our councillors from participating in the election process was a blatant violation of democracy. Blocking their entry to mark them as absent was pure dictatorship at play," Warring alleged.

He also criticised the Amritsar police, particularly Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, accusing him of obstructing the Congress councillors from entering the poll venue.

"The police, meant to serve and protect the public, have now been reduced to puppets of the government to silence the opposition," he said.

Warring also claimed that the AAP announced its mayor without conducting a proper voting process, calling it a clear "murder of democracy".

"This is an outright insult to the democratic process. AAP has completely bypassed a fair election to secure an unjust victory for itself," he alleged.

Hitting out at AAP, leader of opposition Bajwa said, "With Congress having the majority, police became a tool in the hands of the government. They deliberately obstructed our members from entering the polling centre. The AAP wants to strangle democracy and impose its own mayor, but we will never allow this to happen."

Bajwa also said the Congress will approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek justice.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)