INDIA bloc alliance partners AAP and Congress are likely to stick to their winning formula from last year — AAP bagging the mayor’s post, and the Congress taking the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor roles — that had helped them unseat the BJP from the mayor’s post after eight years of control.
As the January 2025 mayoral elections approach, the two parties are gearing up to retain the key municipal positions, banking on their numerical advantage in the 35-member Chandigarh municipal corporation (MC) House.
Currently, the INDIA bloc commands 21 votes in the MC House — 13 from AAP, seven from Congress and one ex-officio vote of MP Manish Tewari.
In contrast, the BJP has only 15 votes and is relying on cross-voting or defection of INDIA bloc councillors to tip the balance in its favour
The new mayor will be a woman, as per the city’s five-year mayoral rotation system.
Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky expressed confidence in the alliance, saying, “Our alliance is intact and together we will fight against the BJP. Both the parties have yet to sit together for discussion on candidates for each post.”
AAP’s co-in-charge SS Ahluwalia reiterated the terms of the previous pact: “In the previous mayoral polls, the mayoral seat was allocated to AAP in exchange for MP seat for the Congress. We wholeheartedly supported Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, and as per our agreement, we are confident of securing the mayoral post this time.”
{{/usCountry}}AAP’s co-in-charge SS Ahluwalia reiterated the terms of the previous pact: “In the previous mayoral polls, the mayoral seat was allocated to AAP in exchange for MP seat for the Congress. We wholeheartedly supported Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, and as per our agreement, we are confident of securing the mayoral post this time.”
{{/usCountry}}He added that the mayoral candidate had not been finalised yet.
BJP president Jatinder Malhotra, however, said the saffron party was still formulating the strategy for the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
In Chandigarh, the elections for the three municipal posts are held annually in December end or first week of January. According to the rotation system, the first term is reserved for a woman candidate from general category, the second is for any candidate from general category, third for a candidate from Scheduled Caste category, fourth for a woman candidate from general category and fifth for general category. Seats for the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor are not reserved.
2024 poll saw unprecedented twists and turns
Even since the mayoral polls were notified on January 10, they ran into multiple controversies. First the polls were re-scheduled from January 18 to February 6 by UT. After the high court intervened, the UT decided to conduct the elections on January 30. Following poling through secret ballot, the BJP had secured victory, defeating AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar Dhalor.
But on February 20, the Supreme Court reversed presiding officer Anil Masih’s decision to declare BP candidate Manoj Sonkar as the winner, noting that eight votes cast in favour of Dhalor were defaced and declared invalid by Masih who now faces perjury proceedings
UT yet to decide on ‘open voting’
Though the MC House in October this year had passed a resolution that “show of hands” be used while voting in future elections instead of the present provision of secret ballot, the UT administration has yet to take a call. After approval of minutes in the MC’s November 23 House meeting, the civic body officials had written to the secretary of UT local bodies department, requesting to consider the matter.
While the Congress and AAP councillors termed the passing of the resolution as a step in the right direction to cleanse the electoral system in the city, the BJP councillors had opposed it, claiming, “AAP councillors are trying to snatch the fundamental right of people.”