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Chandigarh mayoral polls today: Will it be a BJP cakewalk or will Cong-AAP spring a surprise?
For the mayor’s post, the BJP has fielded Saurabh Joshi, 44, the AAP has nominated Yogesh Dhingra, 36, while the Congress has gone with Gurpreet Singh Gabi, 47
All eyes will be on the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) today as the House elects the last mayor of its five-year tenure, with a triangular contest emerging as all three parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress – have thrown their hat in the ring for the elections.
Even as the expected outcome weighs in favour of the BJP which has a majority of 18 councillors in the 36-member House (35 councillors and 1 vote of MP), tables may turn to any side if the Congress and the AAP set aside their differences and decide to join hands.
For the mayor’s post, the BJP has fielded Saurabh Joshi, 44, the AAP has nominated Yogesh Dhingra, 36, while the Congress has gone with Gurpreet Singh Gabi, 47.
For the senior deputy mayor’s post, BJP’s Jasmanpreet Singh, Congress’ Sachin Galav and AAP’s Manuar Khan are in the fray. In the race for the deputy mayor’s post, the BJP has nominated Suman Sharma, Congress has fielded Nirmala Devi, and AAP’s official candidate is Jaswinder Kaur.
AAP councillor Ramchander Yadav is contesting the deputy mayor’s post as an Independent candidate. His nomination has been proposed by two Congress councillors, further complicating the political arithmetic.
To secure victory in the polls, a candidate needs at least 19 votes.
In December 2025, two councillors of AAP switched over to the BJP taking the party’s strength in the House to 18. At present, the Congress has six councillors, while AAP has 11. The Chandigarh Member of Parliament is entitled to one vote, making the situation evenly poised. As things stand, both the ruling party and the combined strength of Congress and AAP stand at 18 votes each.
This will be the last mayoral poll of the MC House elected in 2022. It will also mark a first in Chandigarh’s political history, with the mayor being elected through a show of hands instead of a secret ballot. The change follows an amendment in the Regulation 6 of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (Procedure and Conduct of Business) Regulations, 1996, approved by UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria in July last year to curb cross-voting and ballot tampering.
For the mayor’s election, nominated councillor Dr Ramneek Singh Bedi has been appointed as the presiding authority. The election process will begin at 11 am. After councillors indicate their choice by raising their hands, votes will be counted through visual verification and oral confirmation. A detailed minutes of the meeting along with proper documentation and recording will be maintained to avoid any dispute.
MP presses for 5-yr term of mayor
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, just a day before the elections, Chandigarh Member of Parliament Manish Tewari again pressed for a five-year term of the mayor, stating that all 30 mayors of the past were powerless and ineffectual due to the lack of governing time with them.
“The time has come to evaluate whether the current system of electing a mayor and his deputies for a term of one year has worked for the civic governance of Chandigarh or not?” the MP said.
HC disposes of plea for independent observer
Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday disposed of a plea from AAP councillor, Yogesh Dhingra who had sought appointment of an independent observer for mayoral polls and videography of the same. Dhingra had cited apprehensions of bungling in the poll process. During the hearing, UT’s counsels had apprised the court that voting is to take place through a show of hands and videography of the same is to be done. At one point of time, the court asked the petitioner to deposit ₹5 lakh for appointment of an independent observer to which the petitioner did not show interest.
