Chandigarh, Dec 21 (IANS): With the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) having an edge over Opposition parties, voting got underway on Saturday for Punjab’s five municipal corporations, 44 municipal councils, and various nagar panchayats.

The polling will take place till 4 P.M. and the ballots would be counted at the polling booth soon after that.

The municipalities going to polls are Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, and Phagwara.

A total of 37.32 lakh voters, including 19.55 lakh men and 17.76 lakh women, are eligible to participate in the elections.

A total of 3,336 candidates are in the fray from all four major political parties – the AAP, the Congress, the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

The Amritsar and Jalandhar MCs have 85 wards each, Ludhiana has 95, Patiala 60 and Phagwara 50.

Polling is also being conducted for 598 wards in the municipal councils and nagar panchayats.

State Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri has said all necessary arrangements are in place, with heightened security at 344 hypersensitive and 665 sensitive polling stations.

A total of 21,500 personnel, including police and Home Guard personnel, have been deployed to ensure smooth voting.

The Election Commission has allowed videography proceedings outside the polling stations to be conducted by private people, including the workers of political parties.

However, it said no private individual would be allowed to carry out any videography activity within the polling stations.

As per the above order, videography by private persons and workers of political parties is allowed at their own expense, subject to such videography being conducted beyond 100 metres of the polling stations.

The elections will be a litmus test for the AAP, which would like its winning momentum to continue after securing victories in three of the four Assembly bypolls in November.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann campaigned aggressively for the party candidates.