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Mayor poll:13 women in fray; city promised better sanitation, tax waivers
The city, which has been reserved for a woman candidate for the second consecutive time, will be choosing its only second woman mayor.
On May 4, Lucknow will vote to choose its next mayor from among the 13 hopefuls, 10 of whom filed their nomination papers on Monday, the final day to do so. The city, which has been reserved for a woman candidate for the second consecutive time, will be choosing its only second woman mayor.
Sushma Kharakwal, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) face for the polls, filed her papers in the presence of former deputy chief minister and ex-mayor Dinesh Sharma, and parliamentarian Kaushal Kishore on Monday.
Similarly, Anju Bhatt of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Sangeeta Jaiswal of Congress filed their papers within a short span of each other. Alka Pandey from Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, Madhu Sen from Lok Dal, Usha Tripathi from Gandhian People’s Party, and independents such as Mithilesh Singh, Manju Dohre, Nalini Khanna and Lakshmi Kushwaham also entered the poll fray.
Meanwhile, Shaheen Bano from Bahujan Samaj Party, Vandana Mishra from Samajwadi Party and Asha Mishra (independent) filed their nominations on Sunday.
In all, 13 candidates will battle it out for the prestigious post.
Kharakwal, a mother of two who lives in Vrinadavan Colony with her husband, praised the outgoing mayor and said she would take her legacy forward. “My efforts will be to make Lucknow one of the best cities in the world... All markets in the city will have exclusive toilets for women. My emphasis will be on better sanitation and safer streets for women,” she said in a tête-à-tête with HT.
Bhatt said the conditions of roads, drains and sewers in the city were worsening even as the municipal corporation had become “a den for corruption”. “If I am elected, house tax will be waived off, and 50 per cent rebate will be given on water tax,” she added.
Jaiswal said the city’s rank had dropped in the sanitation Index, and her efforts would be to make it one of the cleanest cites. “Lucknow’s streets are dirty. Here, solid waste management has failed. If I am elected the mayor, then I will turn it into one of the cleanest cities and create more landfill sites and solid waste treatment plants.”
The nomination filing on the last day took place with around 200 policemen guarding every nook and corner of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation office. Media persons were also not given entry to the heavily barricaded venue.
BOX: 983 to battle it out for 110 corporator posts
A total of 983 candidates have filed their papers for 110 wards in the Lucknow Municipal Corporation. Meanwhile, 106 nominations were filed for chairperson posts in 10 nagar panchayats in the city, while 706 others will contest to become members of these civic bodies.
