35% seats reserved for women in Ambala Sadar civic body

This is for the first time the municipal council will go to polls after getting separated from the corporation

The state government has issued a list of 31 wards as per the reservation criteria for the upcoming Ambala Sadar (Cantonment) municipal council elections on Monday.

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The state government has issued a list of 31 wards as per the reservation criteria for the upcoming Ambala Sadar (Cantonment) municipal council elections on Monday.

As per information, the wards were decided by “draw of lots” in Panchkula in the presence of a committee set-up for ward delimitation consisting of BJP’s Sadar Mandal chief Rajiv Dimple and others.

In all, 11 seats (35%) have been reserved for women, including nine in general and two in SC category.

Apurva Chaudhary, executive officer, Sadar MC, said, “Out of 31 wards, six (wards 3, 4, 21, 23, 26 and 28) have been reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes (SC) category, with wards 3 and 28 for women from the same category. Similarly, wards 18 and 20 are reserved for candidates from the backward classes (BC) and wards 1, 5, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 19 and 24 for women candidates from the general category. The decision to reserve the post of chairman will be taken by a state committee soon.”

As per details, in the last tenure that ended in 2018, there were 20 wards under Ambala MC, out of which 11 were in the city area and nine in the Sadar Zone of the Cantonment. Out of these nine, six members were Congress-backed and three were from the BJP.

Earlier, the MC elections had taken place in 2005 and 31 councillors worked till 2010. Later in 2010, the corporation was formed and the Sadar zone was also added, elections for which were held in 2013 for a total of 20 wards.

But in 2019, the corporation was divided into Ambala MC and Ambala Sadar municipal council. This is for the first time the civic body will go to polls post-detachment.

In the recently-concluded elections of the MC, Venod Sharma’s wife Shakti Rani Sharma of Haryana Janachetana Party (HJP) had claimed the mayor seat. BJP had managed to become the single largest party in the House with eight members followed by HJP with seven, Congress with three and Haryana Democratic Front (HDF) with two. Last week, Congress’ Rajesh Mehta had joined HJP taking the party’s number equal to that of the BJP.

Haryana Congress general secretary (grievance cell) and former councillor Onkar Pruthi alleged that the whole process had happened secretly in Panchkula and not in Ambala, and the party will surely make a comeback. “Like in the city, here too the workers would like to contest on the party symbol. But the final decision will be taken by Kumari Selja,” he said.

The ruling BJP in the state is confident of winning majorly on the face of local MLA and urban local bodies minister Anil Vij, said Rajiv Dimple. “Our leader Anil Vij’s popularity in the region will make us win. There is no factionalism and we are working as a family,” he said.

Like in the city, the contest here is set to be four-cornered with the entry of HDF and HJP. HDF’s general secretary Chitra Sarwara said that the party had started selection of candidates.

“But there are speculations that the election for the chairman might be indirect, which shows BJP’s anxiousness after losing at many places in the recent local bodies elections,” she added.

HJP’s Venod Sharma has already announced that his party will contest with the same enthusiasm in all wards. He remained unavailable for a comment.