Reserved for SC this time,mayor’s seat witnesses lobbying

The BJP and BSP councillors have been supporting each other in the Municipal Corporation meetings. BSP councillor Jannat Jahan has levelled allegations against the Congress leaders for not letting work take place in her ward. During the meeting last month,the BSP and Congress leaders traded allegations. Jannat received support from BJP councillors as well as the one Independent councillor.

There are a total of 36 members in the MC House. Of these,26 are elected and nine nominated while one is an ex-officio member who is the local MP. Among the 26 elected,12 are from the Congress,11 from BJP-SAD,two from BSP and one Independent.

Maintaining that every vote counts,a BJP councillor said the party had spoken to the nominated councillors. “Though they have been supporting the Congress in the last two elections,we are hopeful that some of them might vote in our favour,” he added. The party would hold a meeting of the election committee before the name of the candidate is finalised.

In the Congress camp,there are more than one contenders. Satish Kainth who is currently deputy Mayor and was one in the previous term as well is lobbying for the post. A section of the party councillors is supporting him. H C Kalyan is another contender. This is Kalyan’s second term as a councillor and he has got support from some of the councillors.

A Congress councillor said that Kalyan belongs to the Balmiki community which is a more dominant community in the city. Keeping an eye on the Lok Sabha elections,this may prove to be a factor in selection of the candidate. Around 80 per cent of the Schedule Castes in the city belong to the Balmiki community. An election observor would be appointed and then the name of the candidate would be finalised.

The Congress is also counting on support of the nominated councillors. In fact,during the recently concluded Chrysanthemum Show,Mayor Subhash Chawla publicly thanked Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil for nominating “such a good team of nominated councillors”. With there being nine nominated councillors,they can tilt the election to either side.