A test for rebels,freshers and cobbled up combinations

The manch will be fielding Kulwinder Kaur,mother of Khushpreet Singh Khushi from ward 14 comprising Burail and Sector 45.

Indian National Trade Union Congress has also fielded four candidates for the first time instead of extending support to the Congress. The reason reportedly was the resentment at Congress not offering them tickets.

New Congress Party has fielded 13 candidates. Apart from candidates affiliated to parties there are a number of independents who have jumped into the fray. Most of these candidates were denied ticket by their parties decided to contest on their own.

Nominated councillors contest

For the first time two nominated councillors are in the fray for the elections. While Pallav Mukherjee has filed nomination from ward 2,Arshad Khan would be contesting from ward 26. The nominated councillors,this year were politically active with most of them showing affiliations to parties. Pallav Mukherjee is part of Chandigarh Jan Manch that has recently been floated as an “alternate to other political parties”. Arshad Khan,has meanwhile joined the Congress and is contesting on a ticket of the party.

The oldest candidates

Two of the candidates who have filed their nomination have been part of the civic body since the first election in 1996. They are: Kamlesh from Congress and Harjinder Kaur from the Shiromani Akali Dal. Both have been councillors as well as Mayors of the civic body. In fact in the first tenure of the Municipal Corporation,Kamlesh was the only Congress councillor elected in the 20-member house. The wards were later increased to 26.

Fresh Faces

Both the Congress and BJP are focusing on bringing in fresh faces for the election. The list of candidates from both the parties have a large number of fresh faces. Some candidates are those who have never contested any previous elections of the civic body. These include Raj Bala Malik,Neeru Yadav,Rajesh Sharma,Gurbax Rawat,Darshan Kumar Garg,Rana Kashmiri Devi,Dharamveer and Chitranjan Chanchal of the Congress.

In BJP the new faces are Sourabh Joshi,Laxmi Devi,Arun Sood,Renu Bala,Chandrawati Shukla,Jatinder Malhotra,Satinder Singh,Raj Kishore,Heera Negi,Rajinder Kaur and Jagtar Singh Jagga.

With fresh faces being included at the cost of some old timers,there is resentment among some senior leaders.

Old timers in fray

Councillors who have been a part of the Municipal Corporation for the last one or two terms have also been given tickets by the parties. From the Congress,the sitting councillors who would be contesting are Pardeep Chhabra,Anu Chatrath,Chander Mukhi Sharma,Devinder Singh Babla,Sheela Phool Singh,H C Kalyan,Jatinder Bhatia and Kamlesh. The other old timers given ticket by the party are Subhash Chawla,H S Lucky and Mukesh Bassi.

In BJP Anil Dubey,Rajesh Gupta,Ram Lal and Rajkumari Mishra will be contesting. Satinder Dhawan had been a councillor in a previous term of the civic body.

COUPLE POWER

There are two couples in the fray. Councillor Pallav Mukherjee and his wife Joginder Kaur Mukherjee would be contesting under the banner of Chandigarh Jan Manch. Meanwhile J S Kang and his wife Inderjit Kang would be contesting on Shiromani Akali Dal ticket.