Sangrur municipal council gets president after 4 months
AAP’s Preet Jain was elected the senior vice-president with 11 votes, while Krishan Lal Vicky secured the vice-president’s post with 10 votes.
Four months after the civic body elections, the Sangrur municipal council finally got its president on Saturday. Bhupinder Singh Bhinder of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won the post with 18 out of the total 31 votes.
AAP’s Preet Jain was elected the senior vice-president with 11 votes, while Krishan Lal Vicky secured the vice-president’s post with 10 votes.
Sub-divisional magistrate Charanjot Singh Walia said Bhinder had 18 votes while his rival from the Congress won nine votes. In the civic body elections held on December 21, the AAP had won seven wards, Congress eight, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) four and Independents 10. Eight Independents eventually joined the AAP. Their votes, along with that of Sangrur MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj and Sunam MLA Aman Arora, who hold ex officio votes in the House, helped the party secure the post.
Sunam MLA and AAP state chief Aman Arora said, “We won these elections with a clear majority. My sincere thanks to the people of Sangrur.” Bhinder said, “Our focus will be on development.”
The Congress alleged foul play in the election of the vice-president. Surinder Singh Bhinder, a Congress councillor, said, “The municipal act clearly states the vice-president should be from the Opposition. They forcefully appointed their own person on the post.”
Arora responded to the allegations stating the Congress simply did not have the numbers.
On the delay in the elections, the AAP cited administrative reasons though the Opposition claimed they were deliberately putting it off due to lack of majority.
