Chandigarh, May 30 -- The resounding victory in a majority of the 102 civic bodies in Punjab on Friday has come as a major shot in the arm for the AAP, reinforcing its political dominance in the state ahead of next year's assembly elections. The AAP, which has continued its winning run in the state since the historic triumph in the 2022 assembly polls, bagged nearly 50% of the 1,977 wards. The Congress, SAD and the BJP lagged far behind in most areas. Of the eight municipal corporations, the AAP emerged victorious in five - Bathinda, Mohali, Moga, Batala and Barnala. It also swept Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring's stronghold of Gidderbaha, winning 17 of the 19 wards. The scale of the victory, seen as a strong endorsement of the Bhagwant Mann government, has boosted party workers' morale. The success did not come easily, though. The party pulled out all the stops, running an aggressive, high-octane campaign where ministers, MLAs and other leaders camped in poll-bound areas for days. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann said the mandate is an indication that the AAP was on course to surpass its historic 2022 assembly election performance in 2027. "The Congress, SAD and BJP together could not reach the number of seats won by the AAP. Voters have completely rejected their negative and divisive agenda," he said. However, the results leave little room for complacency. Though a distant second, the Congress seems to retain its pockets of support in several areas. Past trends also indicate that voters in urban areas back the ruling party in civic polls and byelections, but such results are often not a reliable indicator of the political mood in the state. Ashutosh Kumar, professor of political science at Panjab University, Chandigarh, said that in civic polls and byelections, voters avoid antagonising the government and risking exclusion from welfare schemes. "There are several instances where the incumbent party swept civic polls but lost the assembly polls a few months later. This happened with the Congress four years ago despite a bigger victory in civic polls," said Kumar, who has tracked elections in Punjab since 2002. AAP's Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia said the civic poll results reflected public approval of the party's governance. "People across Punjab have given a clear message that they appreciate good governance," he said....