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Congress, AAP will contest Chandigarh mayoral elections jointly: MP Manish Tewari
This time, the post will go to a woman as per the city’s five-year mayoral rotation system; Tewari urges UT administrator to approve the House resolution providing for a show of hands instead of secret voting to appoint the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will fight the Chandigarh mayoral elections together this time too, Member of Parliament Manish Tewari said on Sunday.
Addressing the media at the Congress Bhawan in Sector 35, Tewari said the modalities for selecting candidates will be decided in the next few days.
This time, the post will go to a woman as per the city’s five-year mayoral rotation system.
The MP urged the UT administration to hold the mayoral polls on February 20, 2025, as the incumbent mayor had assumed office on the same date last year. Tewari also requested the UT administrator to approve the House resolution providing for a show of hands instead of secret voting to appoint the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
Last year’s mayoral elections were marred by rigging allegations as presiding officer Anil Masih was caught on camera tampering with ballots. Eight votes were declared invalid, swinging the poll in the Bharatiya Janta Party’s favour despite the party not having a majority in the House. After the matter was taken to the Supreme Court, the mayor’s post went to the AAP and those of the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor went to the Congress.
The alliance thus managed to unseat the BJP from the mayor’s position after eight years of dominance.
When questioned about the recent controversy about privatisation of power services in Chandigarh, Tewari said he was fundamentally against the privatisation of government bodies. He added that the Congress party in the city was leading the protests against the administration’s decision to transfer electricity transmission to a private company.
Tewari also criticised Union home minister Amit Shah for making derogatory remarks against Bhim Rao Ambedkar. He demanded that Shah apologise for his “unwarranted remarks” about the architect of India’s Constitution, who is held in high esteem across the nation. Addressing the media, Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky said the alliance between the Congress and the AAP continues to remain strong in Chandigarh. He said both parties will contest the upcoming mayoral elections unitedly. Lucky added that senior leaders from both alliance partners will meet soon to finalise decisions on the three mayoral posts.
