E-Paper
Chandigarh mayoral elections on January 10: No one will be spared in case of cross-voting, warns Tandon
Last year, the party was left embarrassed when five BJP councillors ended up voting for party rebel Satish Kainth, reducing the winning margin of its official candidate to just three votes.
A day before the mayoral elections on Friday, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called a meeting at party office in Sector 33 and asked all councillors to ensure support for its three nominees for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
The party is wary of cross voting as there is discontentment among the ranks over nomination of Raj Bala Malik as mayoral candidate, even as a majority of councillors are on her side.
Heera Negi, who was one of the claimants for the mayoral post, has already criticised the party’s decision to not nominate her. She also gave the dinner hosted by Malik on Wednesday evening a miss, making her displeasure public.
Last year, the party was left embarrassed when five BJP councillors ended up voting for party rebel Satish Kainth, reducing the winning margin of its official candidate to just three votes. This despite the fact that the party has two-thirds majority in the MC House (see box).
To ensure that the past is not repeated, the BJP leaders have warned all councillors against cross voting during the elections.
After the meeting, BJP local president Sanjay Tandon said that the party is united and “we are very sure that no cross voting will happen.”
He, however, said, “If party votes are crossed, senior party officials have told us that it will be taken very seriously.”
“Nobody shall be spared then,” he added.
On the other hand, the Congress with just five councillors in the 26-member House is not in a winning position on its own.
Therefore, it has been heavily banking upon the cross-voting within the ruling BJP that enjoys over two-thirds majority.
Sources said Congress candidate Gurbax Rawat has been approaching almost all BJP councillors for support.
VOTING BEGINS 11 AM
Voting will begin at 11 am on Friday. Deputy commissioner Mandip Brar will oversee the election process along with MC house secretary. Congress has again appealed to the MC to maintain ballot secrecy during the election as they apprehend that BJP councillors will try to click pictures of their ballot during voting.
