Chandigarh mayoral polls: Congress-AAP alliance aims to retain post today

Chandigarh, Jan 30 (IANS) The INDIA bloc’s Congress-AAP alliance will come to the fore on Thursday to win the elections to the Chandigarh mayor’s post, with the main Opposition BJP eyeing to bag the seat with cross-voting. 

There is a direct contest between the Aam Aadmi Party’s Prem Lata and the BJP’s Harpreet Babla.

The Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor will also be elected.

This time the seat, with a tenure of a year, is reserved for women.

In the run-up to the polls, the Congress’ senior woman councillor Gurbax Rawat has switched loyalties and joined the BJP.

In the 35-member House, the AAP-Congress alliance has 19 councillors -- 13 votes of AAP and six of the Congress, while the BJP has 16 votes.

The year-old alliance also banks on one vote of ex-officio member and its MP Manish Tewari, taking its total votes to 20.

The BJP is relying on cross-voting or defections to achieve the 19-vote mark for a majority.

Voting will begin at 11 am through a secret ballot and the counting of ballots will begin after the polling is over.

Amid reports of bickering, the AAP a day earlier released a photo of all councillors being kept in a hotel in Punjab’s Ropar town to prevent “poaching”.

The photo comprised three councillors who are reportedly “upset” with the party.

AAP candidate Prem Lata, 46, is the wife of a retired Indian Air Force Officer. She is currently teaching English in a government school to Class XI and XII students.

The BJP’s Harpreet Babla, the second time councillor, is the daughter of a retired Army Colonel and is married to former councillor Devinder Singh Babla, who was previously with the Congress.

As per the pact, the Congress has fielded Jasbir Singh Bunty and Taruna Mehta for the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively.

After the Congress’ rebel councillor Gurbax Rawat joined the BJP on January 27, the AAP and the Congress moved their councillors out of the city.

They will return to the city hours before polling.

This mayoral election is the fourth year of the five-year rotational system. Before this outgoing mayoral term, the BJP had retained the seat for nine times in a row.

To oversee the mayoral election, the Supreme Court earlier this week appointed Punjab and Haryana High Court’s former judge Justice Jaishree Thakur as an independent observer.

The election will be conducted under her direct supervision, with proceedings being recorded on camera.

Deputy Commissioner Nishant Yadav on Wednesday reviewed arrangements and ensured the smooth conduct of the mayoral election to be held on Thursday at the Assembly Hall of the Municipal Corporation in Sector 17.

Exercising his powers as District Magistrate under Sector 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, he has prohibited the gathering of five or more people in and around the Municipal Corporation within 100 metres till January 30.

The mayoral elections will be held by secret ballot.

Voters will not be allowed to show the front of the ballot paper to any person while casting their vote.

No mobile phones, cameras, weapons, electronic gadgets, pens and pencils will be allowed during the election process.

--IANS

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