Chandigarh mayoral polls: It is BJP vs Cong-AAP

Chandigarh: The Chandigarh mayoral polls will take place on Thursday with both the BJP and the Congress-AAP alliance claiming victory in the election.

The mayoral polls this time assume significance as the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- both INDIA bloc members -- “have joined hands to contest the elections to oust the BJP from the chair of mayor which it has been winning for the last eight years.

Under the arrangement, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight for the mayor's seat while the Congress will contest the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.

The polls for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will be held on Thursday, said officials here.

AAP senior leader Raghav Chadha and senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal met here a day ahead of polling, sources said.

Rajya Sabha member Chadha on Tuesday said that the INDIA bloc will sweep the Chandigarh mayoral polls and the victory will be the curtain raiser for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 35-member Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, the BJP has 14 councillors. It also has an ex-officio member MP (Kirron Kher) who has voting rights.

The AAP has 13 councillors and the Congress seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor in the House.

The municipal officials have said that no mobile phone, camera and any other electronic gadget will be allowed during the voting at the assembly hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation office.

The mayor is elected by the councillors through secret ballots. Hence, the possibility of cross-voting cannot be ruled out.

The Congress abstained from voting in 2022 and 2023, leading to the BJP's victory in the mayoral polls.

Elections for the three posts are held every year during the five-year term of the House. This year, the mayor's seat has been reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. This time the mayor will be elected for the third term.

A senior Congress leader said after a tie-up with the AAP, they have total 20 councillors with which they will easily win all the three posts.

Meanwhile, the BJP has also exuded confidence that its candidates will register victories.

For the mayor, the BJP has fielded Manoj Sonkar while the AAP has nominated Kuldeep Kumar Tita. For the post of senior deputy mayor, the contest will be between BJP's Kuljeet Sandhu and Congress' Gurpreet Singh Gabi.

For the post of deputy mayor, the BJP has fielded Rajinder Sharma while the Congress party's nominee is Nirmala Devi.