Chandigarh, May 26 -- Punjab's 35-lakh-strong urban electorate will on Tuesday step out to elect representatives across 103 civic bodies in what is being seen as a politically significant contest ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Elaborate security and administrative arrangements have been put in place for elections to eight municipal corporations, 75 municipal councils and 20 nagar panchayats, covering key urban pockets across the state. According to the State Election Commission, there are 3,545,567 registered voters for these municipal bodies, including 1,711,635 women, 1,833,932 men and 220 voters in the "others" category. As many as 7,555 candidates are contesting the elections across 1,896 wards. Of these, 1,613 candidates are in the fray for 396 wards of municipal corporations, while 5,142 candidates are contesting from 1,282 wards of municipal councils. Another 800 candidates are fighting from 218 wards of nagar panchayats. To ensure peaceful polling, the State Election Commission has identified 740 polling booths as sensitive and 274 as hyper-sensitive among the total 3,977 booths. The counting of votes will take place on May 29. The polls witnessed intense campaigning by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), with parties viewing the contest as a key indicator of the urban political mood ahead of the high-stakes 2027 assembly elections. The campaign was also marked by Opposition allegations of high-handedness by the AAP government, which was accused of misusing government machinery and engineering rejection of nomination papers of rival candidates.AAP has fielded the maximum number of candidates at 1,801, followed by 1,550 from Congress, 1,316 from the BJP, 1,251 from the SAD and 96 from the BSP. Additionally, 1,528 candidates are running as Independents. In the poll campaign which ended on Sunday, many senior leaders, including Punjab ministers Aman Arora and Lal Chand Kataruchak, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, AAP MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma, Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal aggressively canvassed for their parties' nominees. The Punjab government has declared a holiday in the state on May 26 to facilitate voters to cast their votes. This holiday will also apply to all Punjab government offices, boards, corporations, and educational institutions situated in Chandigarh. The government also announced an exemption for all workers at commercial establishments to allow them to cast their vote....