E-Paper
Govt may de-reserve Bathinda mayoral post
Veteran Congress leader Jagroop Singh Gill is being seen as the strongest claimant to head the civic body
The Punjab government is likely to de-reserve the post of mayor in the high-stake Bathinda municipal corporation.
In July 2008, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD’s) Baljit Singh Bir Behman was elected as the first mayor of Bathinda as a general category candidate. But in the next civic body polls in 2015, the top office of the local body was reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate. In March 2015, Akali leader Balwant Rai Nath was elected unopposed for the coveted post when SAD-BJP alliance was in majority.
In the latest civic body elections, Congress successfully managed to penetrate the political bastion of the SAD after decades by winning 43 of the 50 seats.
Veteran Congress leader Jagroop Singh Gill is being seen as the strongest claimant to head the civic body. Gill was asked to quit as the chairperson of the district planning board to contest municipal corporation elections.
He successfully contested from Ward 48 and won the municipal polls for the record 7th time. Gill was polled 1,452 votes whereas his nearest rival Nirmal Singh of SAD got only 876 votes.
Gill had also held the posts of the chairperson of the Bathinda Improvement Trust, vice-president and president of the local civic body and the president of the District Bar Association.
Sources said the Congress leadership had handpicked Gill for the elections and he is likely to get rewarded with the mayoral post.
Official sources said the state government is yet to issue a notification on the category of mayoral posts in all the municipal corporations will be reserved for women or SC candidates or not.
State Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Friday said the cabinet is expected to reserve 50% seats of heads of various urban local bodies for women to enhance active women participation in the electoral politics.
“Mayoral names will be finalised after the government notifies the reservation plan,” said Jakhar.
According to sources, the name of the former district president and senior Congress leader Vimal Thathai is likely to be considered as the first mayor of Abohar, the hometown of Jakhar.
Thathai, who got elected as a councillor for the fifth time, was polled 1,174 of the 1,565 total votes polled in his Ward 40. He is also considered close to Jakhar.
Sources said the party may consider Ganpat Ram, who got elected from Ward 50, if the post of mayor is reserved to an SC candidate. Ram, who registered the fourth victory in the municipality, won by 576 votes.
However, there has been suspense over the possible option of mayor from Moga, the third municipal corporation in south Malwa. Congress MLA Harjot Kamal is considered to have been pushing his wife Rajinder Kaur’s candidature as the next mayor, but she lost the election. Since Congress managed to bag 29 seats, including 10 Independents, the party leadership is looking into possibilities.
Analysts say in view of the current political equations, the Moga municipality may be reserved for a woman candidate. In such a situation, the top two names before the party are Amanpreet Kaur Mann, who won from Ward 3 by 992 votes and Rita Chopra from Ward 11.
