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Chandigarh mayoral poll: Day after councillor’s exit, AAP resorts to resort politics
The mayor will be elected by councillors through secret ballot in the MC House, allowing chances for cross-voting; the tenure of outgoing Chandigarh mayor Anup Gupta will end on January 16
A day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Lakhbir Singh Billu switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party moved its 12 councillors to a private lodge in Punjab in an apparent bid to prevent more defection before the January 18 mayoral poll.
Till Thursday evening, BJP councillors remained in the city, confident of achieving the magic number of 19 in the 35-member MC House on D-Day. Congress councillors were also in Chandigarh, holding meetings to decide further action.
In the 35-member MC House, the BJP now has 15 councillors, whereas AAP’s strength has dropped from 13 to 12. The Congress has seven councillors, whereas one councillor is from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). With another vote of local member of Parliament and ex-officio member Kirron Kher, the BJP has an edge in the elections.
The mayor will be elected by councillors through secret ballot in the MC House, allowing chances for cross-voting. The tenure of outgoing mayor Anup Gupta will end on January 16.
“We are on a vacation till the polling day and have moved to Kikar Lodge in Ropar on the directions of the high command. AAP councillors are a family and we just decided to spend time with each other. We will come back to Chandigarh to file nominations on January 13 and after that, will leave for Ropar again. We may come back only on January 17 evening or January 18 morning,” said an AAP councillor, on the condition of anonymity.
As per sources, some of the councillors have moved along with their families and the councillors will be paying their own expenses.
BJP state president Jatinder Pal Malhotra said, “So far, we have no plans to go anywhere, but plans can be made any time.”
Last year also, to ensure the unity of its members and guard against potential poaching by rival political factions before the mayoral poll, AAP had moved its councillors to the same lodge, whereas the BJP had asked its councillors to shift to Ambala, but some of them had refused.
In 2022, the BJP had chosen to relocate its freshly elected councillors to Shimla.
The Congress had also opted to move its councillors to Jaipur and AAP to Delhi, as a precaution against being enticed by opposing parties. Despite these measures, Congress councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla had joined the BJP the next day, influencing the outcome of the mayoral election in the BJP’s favour.
