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Slugfest for mayoral seat: High drama at Chandigarh MC office as BJP, Cong-AAP workers come to blows
Congress alleges BJP workers forcibly tried to take away its councillor Jasbir Singh Bunty, who was at the Chandigarh MC office to withdraw his mayoral nomination; BJP rubbishes charges
A day after the Congress and the AAP stitched up an alliance to inflict defeat on the BJP in the January 18 Chandigarh mayoral poll, high drama was witnessed at the municipal corporation (MC) office in Sector 17 on Tuesday after workers of the two groups clashed.
A free-for-all ensued as the workers came to blows when the BJP tried to forcibly take away Congress councillor Jasbir Singh Bunty from the office.
In the alliance pact between the two parties, it was decided that the mayor will be from AAP, while the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will go to the Congress.
Following the alliance’s announcement on Monday, the Congress and AAP leaders had visited the MC office to withdraw Bunty’s nomination for the post of mayor.
However, in the absence of MC secretary Gurinder Singh Sodhi, the parties had handed over the application to his personal assistant.
“But BJP leaders claimed that the nomination withdrawal was invalid as the application was not submitted in the presence of MC secretary. Following this, we decided to submit the application again on Tuesday,” said a Congress councillor.
When some councillors, leaders and party workers of the Congress and the AAP, along with Bunty, reached the MC office on Tuesday, the secretary was again absent due to ill health.
AAP’s Neha Musavat and Poonam Sandeep Kumar had also arrived to withdraw their nominations for the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.
After waiting for over an hour, the councillors eventually submitted the withdrawal letters to Sodhi.
While waiting, Bunty’s father reportedly asked the Congress leaders to let his son leave. “Who will be responsible if he gets tensed. He is being tortured. Let him go,” he told the Congressmen.
Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky, along with party leaders Gurpreet Singh Gabi and Sachin Galav, claimed that Bunty’s father was being pressured by the BJP and dissuaded him from asking them to let Bunty leave.
Later, when Bunty and other leaders stepped out of the MC building, BJP workers stepped forward to take away Bunty with them.
As Congress and AAP workers tried to rescue him, a scuffle broke out between the two groups, lasting for over an hour. Chandigarh and Punjab Police personnel, present on the spot, tried to control the situation.
Chandigarh Police asked BJP leader Sanjay Tandon to leave the office, while Chandigarh AAP co-incharge Dr SS Ahluwalia and Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky also faced assault in the scuffle.
Eventually, Chandigarh Police managed to take Bunty back inside the MC building, allowing only top leaders of the three parties, including Tandon, Arun Sood, Pawan Bansal, HS Lucky and Dr SS Ahluwalia, to join inside.
After over two hours, Bunty and his father were dropped home in a police vehicle.
Later, Lucky released a video of Bunty, in which he was seen saying, “Chandigarh Police dropped me back home even though I wanted to go to Pawan Bansal’s house. I request police to let me go to Bansal’s house. No party is pressuring me. I was always with Congress and I want to stay with the party.”
When Bunty was not allowed to visit him, Bansal reached the councillor’s house in Attawa, Sector 42. But was also not permitted to enter by the police.
Earlier, deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh issued a notice, stating that due to ill-health, MC secretary Gurinder Singh Sodhi had proceeded on medical leave and Isha Kamboj, who is MC joint commissioner, had been authorised for receiving and withdrawing nomination papers.
AAP-Congress alliance ahead in numbers game
With AAP and Congress joining hands, their 20 votes together are sufficient to defeat the BJP that has held the mayor’s chair for eight years straight, only if no cross-voting takes place during polling on January 18.
To be elected, a mayoral candidate must muster at least 19 votes.
At 14, the BJP has the most number of councillors in the 35-member MC House, while AAP comes a close second in strength with 13. The Congress has seven councillors, whereas one councillor is from SAD.
With another vote of local MP and ex-officio member Kirron Kher, the BJP has an edge, but not enough to beat Congress and AAP’s combined numbers.
However, since the mayor is elected by the councillors through a secret ballot, the possibility of cross-voting cannot be ruled out. The tenure of outgoing mayor Anup Gupta will end on January 16.
