5 more Amritsar MC councillors join AAP

Three Amritsar councillors — Ajit Singh Bhatia, Nisha Dhillon and Satnam Singh — were associated with the Congress, Jarnail Singh Dhot with the BJP and Avinash Jolly had contested as an independent.

AMRITSAR: Five more councillors of the Amritsar municipal corporation (MC) on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Till now, 33 of the 84 councillors in the House have joined the AAP.

Five more councillors of the Amritsar municipal corporation (MC) on Thursday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Till now, 33 of the 84 councillors in the House have joined the AAP.

Three councillors — Ajit Singh Bhatia, Nisha Dhillon and Satnam Singh — were associated with the Congress, Jarnail Singh Dhot with the BJP and Avinash Jolly had contested as an independent.

Bhatia was a close associate of former state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu while Jolly had served as a deputy mayor of the MC when the SAD-BJP government was in power in Punjab.

The five were welcomed into the AAP fold by mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu, who quit the Congress just before the state assembly elections.

In the December 2017 elections for the municipal corporation, the AAP had fielded candidates from 62 wards, but failed to open its account.