Mohali, June 1 -- While the Municipal Corporation (MC) elections witnessed a decisive victory for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a total of 719 votes (0.77%), out of 93,827 valid votes, went to None of the Above (NOTA) option across the city's 50 wards. Ward number 17, reserved for scheduled caste (SC)women, recorded the highest number of NOTA votes at 44, followed by ward 4 (37), ward 5 (28), ward numbers 31 and 40 (25 each), ward 9 (22), wards 11 and 23 (21 each) and ward 21 (19). The elections also saw 27 women candidates winning seats in the 50-member MC, giving women a majority presence in the House. Under the reservation roster, 22 wards were reserved for women candidates and three wards (5, 17 and 29) were reserved for scheduled caste (SC) women. Two women emerged victorious from unreserved wards, taking the total number of elected women to 27. Congress candidate Anuradha Anand won ward 12 by a margin of 829 votes, while AAP's Kamaljit Kaur secured ward 40 with a margin of 363 votes. Among the women winners, AAP accounted for 17 councillors, Congress eight and the BJP two. Notably, AAP's Dr Akshita Sharma retained ward 14 for the second consecutive term, defeating Poonam of Congress by 882 votes. Ward 1 witnessed one of the closest battles as Congress' Kanwarbir Singh Sidhu secured 750 votes, losing to Independent candidate Paramjit Singh Kahlon, who got 881 votes, by a slender margin of 131 votes. AAP's Satyajit Kundra secured 333 votes, while BJP nominee Subash Chopra received 204 votes. Alleging irregularities, former Punjab health minister and senior Congress leader Balbir Singh Sidhu urged the State Election Commission to order fresh polling at booth number 93 in ward 23, booth 7 in ward 2 and booth 17 in ward 4. Addressing a press conference, Sidhu alleged that during counting, several ballot papers were seen with their counterfoils attached, contrary to election rules. He further claimed that many of these counterfoils did not bear voters' signatures or thumb impressions, raising suspicions of bogus voting. He said written objections were submitted to the returning officer by all candidates except the AAP nominee, seeking a halt to counting and declaration of results, but to no avail. "The election commission should investigate the alleged bogus voting and determine why the results were declared despite complaints," he added....