Carving a niche

The moment BSP councillor Dharamjit Singh Garcha descended on the General House, fellow councillors could be heard murmuring, 8220;He is the one who defeated former mayor Nahar Singh Gill and BJP candidate Prem Sagar.8221;

The moment BSP councillor Dharamjit Singh Garcha descended on the General House, fellow councillors could be heard murmuring, 8220;He is the one who defeated former mayor Nahar Singh Gill and BJP candidate Prem Sagar.8221;nbsp;

Though there are only two sitting councillors from BSP in the House this time, Garcha seems to have carved a niche for himself. In the MC elections held in August last year, Garcha defeated rival Prem Sagar from BJP by a margin of 1,300 votes while Congress candidate and former Mayor Nahar Singh Gill finished third in ward number 14.nbsp;

Though Garcha8217;s paternal uncles Mann Singh Garcha and Jagdish Singh Garcha are senior SAD leaders, a modest Garcha says, 8220;I never got a ticket from SAD and hence contested on the BSP ticket. This is my first victory in the councillor8217;s elections.8221;

In the past, though he has fought elections as an independent candidate from the same ward, he never scored a win.

Garcha states, 8220;Defeating BJP and Congress candidates matters a lot to me as well as the party. Though people in the MC remember my victory, in the long run my work and development in the ward will speak for itself.8221; Stating why his victory is all the more special, he adds, 8220;While SAD and BJP candidates have contested from this ward time and again, it was the BJP candidate who always managed to win.nbsp;Last year also, an overconfident BJP claimed they would emerge victorious, but now the results are there for all to see.8221;

Garcha claims that Sunita Rani, who is now the deputy mayor and former councillor from his ward, did not do much for the people of the ward and hence he would have to work harder.

In the recently held General House meeting, Garcha had also given a list of complaints to the Mayor about his ward. 8220;I am waiting for the Mayor to act upon those complaints. The rest of the work in my ward will start from December 24,8221; says therepresentative.