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Chandigarh MC elections: RWA apex body to field 11 candidates
All RWA federations present at the first-of-its-kind meeting expressed their dissatisfaction with the present Chandigarh MC General House
To ensure that issues concerning the citizens are effectively raised in the Chandigarh municipal corporation’s General House, the City Forum of Resident Welfare Organisations (CFORWO) plans to field 11 candidates from various resident welfare associations (RWAs) in the upcoming civic body elections.
The decision was taken during a first-of-its-kind meeting of various RWA apex bodies, including Federation of Sectors Welfare Association Chandigarh (FOSWAC), Chandigarh Housing Board Resident Welfare Federation (CHBRWF) and Chandigarh Resident Association Welfare Federation (CRAWFED), organised by CFORWO on Sunday.
“We plan to survey around 2,500 people to identify best performing councillors in the city. On the basis of the results, we will form a team of eight best candidates each from BJP, AAP and Congress besides 11 from various RWAs to fight the MC elections,” said Vinod Vashisht, convener, CFORWO. There will be 35 seats in the next MC House, which will go to the polls on December.
All RWA bodies present at the meeting expressed their dissatisfaction with the present MC House. Voice of Housing Societies convener MN Shukla said their association already plans to field two candidates from the two wards that cover Sectors 48, 49, 50, 51 and 63.
FOSWAC chief spokesperson Pankaj Gupta said that all candidates must be educated, honest and accessible to the citizens. CHBRWF president Nirmal Dutt asked all RWAs to play an active role as campaigners rather than petitioners ahead of the elections. CRAWFED patron Major DP Singh urged all RWA bodies to stay politically neutral and united and not to let political parties use them for their benefit.
Dyal Krishan, president of Dadumajra Joint Action Committee, also spoke about “parachute councillors”, who represent Dadumajra in the MC House despite living somewhere else. “I will ask the area residents to vote for NOTA if the parties don’t field a Dadumajra resident as a candidate from our ward,” he said.
