Ambala to elect its first woman mayor

A multi-cornered contest awaits BJP-JJP coalition’s mayoral candidate Vandana Sharma and Congress’ Meena Aggarwal, as parties floated by former ministers Venod Sharma (HJP) and Nirmal Singh (HDF) have also fielded their candidates

As many as 1.87 lakh voters are eligible to cast their ballot to elect the city’s first woman mayor besides 20 councillors from as many wards in the Ambala municipal corporation, which goes to the polls amid Covid-19 pandemic on Sunday.

A multi-cornered contest awaits BJP-JJP coalition’s mayoral candidate Vandana Sharma and Congress’ Meena Aggarwal, as parties floated by former ministers Venod Sharma (HJP) and Nirmal Singh (HDF) have also fielded their candidates — Shakti Rani Sharma and Amisha Chawla, respectively — for the coveted post, which is reserved for a woman. In all, six are in the fray.

From 20 wards, 101 candidates are vying for a seat in the MC House. The tenure of the previous House got over in July 2018, and later the civic body was bifurcated into Ambala Municipal Corporation (City) and Ambala Sadar Municipal Council (Cantt).

In the previous House, there were 16 independents, mostly backed by the Congress as the party had not contested on its symbol, and four from the BJP. Within the city limits, the BJP had only one councillor. The voter turnout was around 67%. The last and the only mayor Ramesh Mal was from the Congress, who later shifted to the BJP just before the 2019 assembly elections.

Public holiday

In view of the polling, the day will be observed as a public holiday in government offices and in all factories, commercial establishments and shops falling within the jurisdiction of all wards of the corporation.

Returning officer Sachin Gupta said voting will begin at 8am and will go on till 5:30pm at 198 booths, of which 15 are sensitive and six hypersensitive.

Deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Sharma said: “Special arrangements have been made in view of the coronavirus pandemic. At the entrance to the polling booth, voters’ temperature will be checked. Masks and sanitisers will also be available.”