Congress withdraws, it is AAP vs BJP in Chandigarh Mayoral polls now

For the post of Senior Deputy Mayor, the AAP has fielded Taruna Mehta, while the BJP has gone with Kanwarjit Rana. For the post of Deputy Mayor, it will be a contest between AAP’s Suman Sharma and BJP’s Harjit Singh. All the candidates filed their nominations on Thursday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the Chandigarh unit of the Congress issued a statement that stated that after holding a series of meetings with all the six Congress Councillors and as well as with the high command…the party’s councillors will not file nominations to contest the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation.

The statement, issued by president of the Chandigarh unit of Congress, HS Lucky, on Thursday read, “We will honestly and emphatically play the role of a constructive opposition in the Municipal Corporation House. The Chandigarh Congress shall continue to raise the issues affecting the lives of people of the city.

The party will continue to oppose the anti-people policies of the both the BJP and the AAP and ensure that the growth and development of the city does not suffer due to such regressive policies of these two parties.”

In the 35-member House, the AAP and the BJP have 14 members each, with the Congress having six elected councillors. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor. The BJP gets one extra vote in the House with Chandigarh MP, Kirron Kher, getting to cast her franchise during voting being an ex-officio member of the general house.

In the run-up to the polls, both the AAP and the Congress had unofficially stated that they would not be averse to tying up with each other in order to keep the BJP out from winning in the Mayoral polls. Neither of the parties, however, have issued a official confirmation of a tie-up.

To be elected, as the Mayor of the house a candidate will need to secure at least 19 votes. Last year, BJP’s Mayoral candidate, Sarabjit Kaur, was declared as the winner after one vote cast by the AAP was declared invalid.

Know your candidates

Jasbir Singh (AAP)
The Aam Aadmi Party’s Mayoral candidate Jasbir Singh is a 38-year-old businessman. He was elected last year from Ward 21 that is Sector 47, in Faidan village. As far as Jasbir’s qualification are concerned, he is a graduate. Jasbir was a vocal critic of the ‘Study Tour’ plans that were sanctioned by the erstwhile Mayor Sarabjit Kaur for councillors to visit Goa and Mumbai to study waste processing units and open spoke against the same in the general House meetings.

Anup Gupta (BJP)
BJP’s Mayoral candidate Anup Gupta, too, is a 38-year-old businessman. He was elected as a first time councillor in 2021 from Ward 11 — that covers sectors 18,19 and 21. Known to be close to all top BJP leaders in Chandigarh — including Sanjay Tandon, and UT BJP chief Arun Sood — as well as Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher, Anup served as the Deputy Mayor under Sarabjit Kaur, besides holding the post of BJP secretary. By qualification, Anup is a B.Com as well as a law graduate.

Resentment within the BJP
Sources said that a few councillors within the BJP were upset by Anup Gupta’s nomination as Mayoral candidate by the party. The major grudge among BJP leaders is that Gupta had already served as the Deputy Mayor. A faction within the BJP — believed to be constituting leaders like Dalip Sharma, Kanwarjeet Rana and others — are said to be unhappy with Gupta’s nomination, though none of them have said anything publicly so far.

Cross voting likely
The threat of cross voting looms large in the upcoming Mayoral polls, with sources claiming that the Congress’ first and foremost challenge would be to keep its six votes intact. A few days ago, the AAP had issued a statement specifying that the “Opposition was united entirely” to defeat the BJP candidates. The Congress at that time, had however, remain non-committal and stated that they had not yet decided any course of action and they wouldn’t align with anyone.