Ahead of the high-stakes January 30 mayoral elections in Chandigarh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress have moved their councillors to resorts in Punjab, an AAP-ruled state, to avoid poaching attempts.
Sources said that all six Congress councillors have been shifted to a resort in Ludhiana. Similarly, 10 AAP councillors have been relocated to a resort near Rupnagar while three councilors are in Chandigarh.
AAP- Congress alliance suffered a setback after three-time Congress Councillor Gurbax Rawat on Monday joined BJP. With this, the INDIA bloc is now left with 20 votes in House — 13 from AAP, six from Congress, and one ex officio vote of MP Manish Tewari — while the BJP has 16 votes.
With Congress Councillor Rawat's shift to BJP a few days before the Mayoral election, the possibility of cross voting has increased. In the last election, Akali Dal Councillor Hardeep Singh had voted in favour of the BJP candidate but now he has joined the Aam Aadmi Party. In such a situation, AAP's numbers have increased compared to the last elections. Sources in AAP said that BJP is trying to approach their Councillor and get them on its side. The leaders were also asked to surrender their mobile phones. Three AAP councillors have, however, refused to go to the hotel over differences within the party. These three councillors were unhappy over the candidature of AAP’s Prem Lata for mayor and were in talks with the BJP.
The saffron party now requires only three more votes to secure the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the January 30 elections. Both the political Groups are currently working hard to get the magic number to clinch all three posts. The candidate who gets 19 votes will win the Mayor election.
Talking to Reporters, Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky alleged that the BJP’s motives were clear. “Last year, they undermined democracy by rigging the mayoral elections through Anil Masih. Now, they are engaging in shameless horse-trading and buying councillors’ loyalties using money and muscle power. The people of Chandigarh will not forget this betrayal by Rawat and the BJP,” he said.
BJP president Jatinder Pal Malhotra criticised the AAP-Congress alliance, accusing them of lacking cohesion. He pointed out that the two parties had failed to hold a single joint press conference or official meeting to announce their alliance. He also claimed that Councillors from both parties were confused, as they criticised each other in Delhi while presenting themselves as allies in Chandigarh.
Monday was the last date for withdrawal of nominations but no one withdrew the nomination. This time the post of Mayor is reserved for a woman councilor. AAP named its Councillor Prem Lata as the party candidate for the post of Chandigarh Mayor. Lata will take on BJP's Harpreet Kaur Babla. While the AAP has fielded its candidate for the post of Mayor, the Congress has put up its candidates--Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta -- for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor. The BJP has fielded Bimla Dubey for the post of senior deputy mayor and Lakhbir Singh Billu for deputy mayor.
It should be mentioned here that the Supreme Court on Monday appointed Justice Jaishree Thakur — a former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court— as an independent observer to physically supervise the Chandigarh mayoral election on January 30. The election will be held at 11 am in the Assembly Hall of the Chandigarh municipal corporation, Sector 17 on January 30, with results to be announced right away.