AAP springs surprise, bags mayor’s post in Amritsar; Congress objects

There was no official statement from Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner Arun Sekhri, who presided over the meeting to elect the mayor, or the Amritsar administration, confirming the election results. Sekhri did not respond to calls from The Indian Express for comments.

Hours after the elections, which followed the oath-taking ceremony of the new councillors elected in the December 21 polls, AAP state president Aman Arora in a post on X announced that the party won all three posts, catching Congress leaders off guard.

The AAP later claimed that Jatinder Singh Moti Bhatia was elected as the mayor, Priyanka Sharma as senior deputy mayor and Anita Rani as deputy mayor.

In last month’s municipal polls, the Congress had won 40 seats; AAP 24; BJP 9; and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) 4. The remaining 8 were Independents. After post-poll alignments, the Congress’s tally went up to 41, while the BJP’s was reduced to 7 as 2 of its councillors along with 7 Independents joined the AAP, taking its tally to 33.

On Monday, when the House met to elect the new Mayor, the AAP’s best tally on paper was 40 — including 7 of its MLAs who also have voting rights. On the other hand, the Congress strength, with support of four SAD councillors, went up to 45.

Ahead of the elections in the evening, all seven BJP councillors staged a walkout, which seemingly gave the Congress an edge. However, the party was left shell-shocked when the AAP announced its victory.

Adding to the controversy, AAP state chief Arora thanked SAD’s four councillors for their support to the AAP candidates. However, shortly after the election meeting, all SAD councillors joined the Congress protest, contradicting Arora’s claims.

SAD councillor Inderjit Singh Pandori said, “There was no voting. They just announced their candidates and then declared them as mayor, senior deputy mayor, and deputy mayor in a hurry. No voting was held.”

Congress mayor candidate Vikas Soni said, “It was all a mess. Soon after the oath ceremony, the AAP announced its candidates. Then councillors were asked to raise hands. Suddenly, they announced that the AAP candidates won and soon they left the meeting. They had planned it in advance. We had the majority but they didn’t allow us to prove. Ballot paper voting would have left AAP at the score of 32.”

In a statement, the AAP said, “During the… elections, two Congress municipal councillors remained absent, weakening the party’s position. Additionally, the Congress failed to nominate their mayoral candidates, highlighting a lack of preparation and internal coordination.”

The Congress leaders launched a dharna outside the Government Medical College in Amritsar, where the meeting was held. State Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring accused the AAP of manipulating the election process.

“The AAP’s relentless thirst for power has reached new extremes. Deploying the police commissioner and the entire force to prevent our councillors from participating in the election process is a blatant violation of democracy. Blocking their entry to mark them absent is pure dictatorship,” he alleged.

Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said, “The AAP has repeated what the BJP did in the Chandigarh mayoral election. The names were announced immediately after councillors took the oath, without proper voting. The police commissioner and other officials are responsible for this mockery of democracy. We will challenge this in the High Court. Truth will prevail.”

AAP dismissed the allegations as baseless. Arora said, “These are baseless allegations. We have won with a majority.” New mayor Bhatia said, “The basic issues of Amritsar will be addressed first. Problems related to cleanliness and sewage in the city will be resolved soon.”