Congress comfortably placed in Phagwara with support of 3 BSP councillors, 4 Independents

To secure the posts of the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, a party needs at least 26 votes in the 50-member House, where the Phagwara MLA also has a vote as the ex-officio member, effectively taking the number of voting members to 51.

With 21 elected councillors and the support of three Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) councillors and four Independents, the Congress seems to be comfortably placed for the upcoming mayoral elections in Phagwara municipal corporation (MC) house, the schedule for which is yet to be announced.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has won only 12 seats, has not given up hope. As per reports, the AAP leadership is holding meetings with councillors of rival parties with the hope of touching the magical figure. (HT Photo)

To secure the posts of the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, a party needs at least 26 votes in the 50-member House, where the Phagwara MLA also has a vote as the ex-officio member, effectively taking the number of voting members to 51.

The Congress currently has 29 votes – 21 own councillors, three of the BSP, four Independents and the party MLA.

However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has won only 12 seats, has not given up hope. As per reports, the AAP leadership is holding meetings with councillors of rival parties with the hope of touching the magical figure.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have four councillors each while the count of Independents in the House is six. All three BSP leaders have vowed support to the Congress.

A senior Congress leader said, “Even if the AAP gets the support of other councillors, it will remain short of the required number to elect its own mayor.”

Congress’ Phagwara MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal has also been holding a series of meetings with its councillors to get feedback on probable names for three posts.

“We will announce the names of candidates once the election dates are out,” he said. Prominent among those in the race for the mayor’s post are Sanjeev Bugga, Ram Paul Uppal, Padam Dev Sudhir, Munish Prabhakar and Sushil Maini.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had also held meetings with the newly elected councillors.