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Chandigarh to get next mayor on January 8
Post reserved for a woman councillor in Chandigarh MC House’s first year; deputy mayor and senior deputy mayor to also be elected; January 4 last date for filing nominations
Elections to pick the next Chandigarh mayor will be held on January 8.
Deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh here on Monday notified the election schedule for the election of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
The election will be held at 11am on January 8 in the assembly hall of the Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) office in Sector 17. Secret ballot will be employed for voting. The last date for filing of nominations is January 4.
BJP councillor Maheshinder Singh Sidhu will be the presiding authority.
Only woman councillors can file the nomination for the post of mayor, as it is reserved for woman in the first and fourth years of the five-year term of the MC House.
Nomination papers, in addition to the candidate’s name, also must have signs of two other councillors as proposer and seconder.
Detailed election programme will be issued by the MC secretary.
Held on December 24, the MC elections threw up a hung House with no party getting a clear majority. In a three-cornered fight, debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) clinched 14 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 12, the Congress eight and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) one.
With ward 10 councillor Harpreet Kaur Babla leaving the Congress and joining the BJP on Sunday, the saffron fold’s tally increased to 13 councillors in the House of 35.
The Chandigarh member of Parliament (MP) also has one vote, taking the full strength of the House to 36. With the MP, Kirron Kher, being from the BJP, the party’s vote tally stands at 14, equal to that of the AAP. The winning candidate would require 19 votes.
The last six Chandigarh mayors have been from the BJP, which had a brute majority of 21 in the last House of 27.
In the run up to the mayoral elections, parties have been fearing that this year too, with no margin between top two parties, cross votes may end up deciding the winning candidate.
