Rajpura MC chief poll postponed

RAJPURA, Dec 3: The election for the post of president of Municipal Council failed to take place today following a boycott by the municipa...

RAJPURA, Dec 3: The election for the post of president of Municipal Council failed to take place today following a boycott by the municipal councillors belonging to the Shiromani Akali Dal, All India Shiromani Akali Dal and two Independents. The election was postponed on the grounds that the meeting had failed to muster the required quorum for the conduct of the election.

Interestingly, Balramji Dass Tandon, local MLA and the Local Bodies, Labour and Employment Minister, failed to get his party man elected to the pivtol post because of a revolt from Shiromani Akali Dal members. It is learnt that Tandon was trying to get his man on the post, by virtue of the BJP8217;s five members in the present House of 25 against the three members from Shiromani Akali Dal ruling alliance. The SAD members foiled BJP8217;s attempts when they succeeded in mustering support from four members belonging to All India Shiromani Akali Dal and two Independents.

The meeting for the election started at noon, but could not be held as only eight members from the Congress party attended the meeting. After waiting for some time, Surjit Singh, deputy director, Local Bodies, who was here to conduct the meeting, announced the postponement of the election on grounds of insufficient quorum.

To avoid any mishappening, adequate security arrangements were made to conduct the meeting. Balramji Dass Tandon, Local Bodies, Labour and Employment Minister and MLA, Raja Narinder Singh, Minister of Public Health Department bridges and roads, and Jasdev Singh Sandhu, chairman Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board PSSSB and Kirpal Singh Badunger, OSD to the chief minister, had camped here to ensure smooth conduct of the election.

Tandon accompaned by five members of BJP waited for SAD members to settle the issue, but they failed to turn up. On the other hand BJP members claimed the support from two Independents. SAD claimed a strength of nine against BJP8217;S seven. The Congress party too failed to reach any consensus on the name of any of its members.

Meanwhile, nine members including those from AISAD, SAD and the two independents Surinder Kaur Baniwal and Surinder Mukhi jointly addressed a press conference here late in the evening and they said that they had join hands for the development of the town.