The candidates of both major players — Congress-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — will file their nomination papers for the mayoral election on Monday. Both the political groups are yet to announce their respective candidates for the three posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor.
Currently, AAP has a sitting mayor in the MC House with the support of the Congress party. This time also, they have decided to continue with the same arrangement.
Sources said that these political parties have delayed to declare the names to minimize internal tussles as much as possible. Both the political groups are currently working hard to get the magic number to clinch all three coveted posts.
Earlier, the Chandigarh Administration had decided on three days — January 18, 19, and 20 — for filing the nomination papers. Nominations for all three posts must be filed by January 20. The notices were issued for the same by the MC secretary. The election will be held at 11 am in the Assembly Hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, Sector 17, on January 24, with results to be announced right away.
At present, AAP has 21 votes in the MC House — including 13 its own, seven from Congress, and one ex-officio vote of Congress MP from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat Manish Tewari. Conversely, the BJP has only 15 votes and is relying on cross-voting or defection of INDIA bloc councilors to tip the balance in its favour.
MC House, in October, had resolved that voting should be conducted through a show of hands instead of a secret ballot, to ensure a transparent and equitable election process in the future. However, the Administration has not accepted the demand. In Chandigarh, the elections for the three municipal posts are held annually in December end or first week of January. According to the rotation system, the first term is reserved for a woman candidate from general category, the second is for any candidate from general category, third for a candidate from Scheduled Caste category, fourth for a woman candidate from general category and fifth for general category. Seats for the Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor are not reserved.
Moreover, AAP and Congress councillors, part of the INDIA bloc, are set to once again challenge the BJP for key positions in the MC.
In BJP, the name of municipal councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla is almost final for the post of mayor, but internal tussles are rampant in AAP for the mayoral post. In AAP, the contest is between the names of municipal councillors Prem Lata, Anju Katyal, and Jaswinder Kaur. Based on the previous year's political formula, the Congress will contest for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Furthermore, senior local leaders of Congress and AAP have also held discussions to ensure their alliance’s victory for the second time in a row.
Sources said that after filing the nomination papers on Monday, there is a possibility that the party leadership of both groups may ask their respective municipal councillors to go out of the city, as they did in the past. This is part of a strategy to keep their flock together.
BJP's central party leadership has already deputed the party's senior leaders from the Centre to plan strategy. BJP's Ghaziabad MP Atul Garg has held meetings with the party's local senior leaders.
AAP, Cong have unholy alliance in Chd: BJP’s Garg
BJP leader Garg, talking to reporters, questioned the morality of the alliance between AAP and the Congress in Chandigarh while accusing the two parties of forming the alliance only for their personal political interests.
Garg pointed out the apparent contradiction in the Congress party’s position, as Congress leaders in Delhi, including Rahul Gandhi, Ajay Maken and Ashok Gehlot, have repeatedly called Arvind Kejriwal and AAP “thieves” and “thugs”, and urged people to distrust them. However, in Chandigarh, the same Congress party is now joining hands with AAP, raising serious questions on the sincerity and consistency of their stand.
He further alleged that the term of outgoing AAP-Congress Mayor Kuldeep Kumar is a total failure. “Under the AAP-Congress rule, the MC has been pushed towards financial bankruptcy, with no money left to even pay the salaries of employees. Moreover, no significant development took place during their tenure and their internal conflicts, including frequent fights between AAP and Congress councillors and even terming the tenure of BJP mayors better, are well documented,” he said.
Garg lauded the achievements made under the leadership of BJP Mayors, which include major development projects like cleaning of legacy waste from Daddu Mazra dumping ground, 24x7 water supply project in Mani Mazra, new Waste-to-Wonder Park in Sector 48, Sensory Park in Sector 22 and new Community Centres in Sectors 20, 30, 35 and 45. These initiatives have reflected the BJP's commitment towards public welfare and development in Chandigarh.
HC to Hear AAP’s Plea Today
The Punjab and Haryana High Court will take up for hearing on Monday the plea filed by AAP seeking deferment of Chandigarh mayoral polls to February and conducting voting by show of hands. Earlier, the Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Vikas Suri had on Friday deferred the plea, filed by AAP leader and incumbent mayor Kuldeep Kumar, for Monday (January 20) — also the last date to file nominations for January 24 Mayoral polls.