Journalism of Courage
It will again be BJP vs AAP in the Chandigarh mayoral polls which have been scheduled for January 17.
In a notification issued on Monday by officiating Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Yashpal Garg, it was stated that the elections will be held at 11 am at the Assembly hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation building.
Nominations have to be filed by January 12 latest by 5 pm as per the notification. Nominated councillor Amit Jindal will be the presiding authority. The polls will be held in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner.
The mayor has a one-year term in Chandigarh.
According to the order issued on Monday, the DC stated that Amit Jindal, councillor, shall conduct the meeting of the corporation to elect the mayor, as per the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 as extended to the Union Territory, Chandigarh by the Punjab Municipal Corporation Law (Extension to Chandigarh) Act, 1994 (Act No. 45 of 1994) and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (Procedure and conduct of Business) Regulations, 1996.
AAP and BJP have 14 councillors each
Both the AAP and the BJP have 14 councillors each in the 35-member corporation. The Congress has six councillors and the SAD one. The mayor seat this time is from the general pool.
It is in the first week of January that Chandigarh usually sees the polls for the coveted posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, who are elected from among the councillors. However, this time, it is being held on January 17.
In last year’s corporation elections, the AAP got the majority with 14 councillors while the BJP got 12 and the Congress nine seats. Two Congress councillors later moved to the BJP, taking its tally to 14. Other than the 35-member elected civic body, nine additional councillors are nominated councillor but they do not have any voting rights.
The Chandigarh MP, being the ex-officio member of the corporation, has a vote in the mayoral elections. With the MP being from the BJP, the party is hopeful of winning the majority. However, the AAP is trying to get votes from the Congress to defeat the saffron party.
Opposition leader Yogesh Dhingra, of the AAP, said he was very much hopeful of his party’s win. “We will give our best and make sure the BJP doesn’t have its mayor or win the two other positions,” he said.
In the AAP, Dhingra and councillor Jasbir Singh are the front-runners for the top job, whereas Mahesh Inder Sidhu, Dalip Singh, Saurabh Joshi and Anup Gupta are the front-runners in the BJP. In the Congress, Gurpreet Singh is the front-runner.
What happened last year?
As soon as the election results were out in 2022, the BJP, the AAP and the Congress fought for the mayoral seat. Though the BJP and the AAP had 14 votes each, one AAP vote was declared invalid, resulting in the BJP winning the mayor post.
Even though the AAP cried foul, nothing happened after the elections.
