Chandigarh Raj Bala Malik is all set for her second stint as the Chandigarh mayor after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday nominated her as its nominee for the January 10 elections.
The Congress, with just five members, has fielded councillor Gurbax Rawat as its nominee. Malik’s win is almost certain as the BJP enjoys two-thirds majority in municipal corporation’s General House.
A lawyer, Malik is married to RK Malik, senior advocate in the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC). She was elected to the House for the first time as a Congress candidate in 2011. She became the mayor the very next year. In 2014, she switched her allegiance to the BJP in the hopes of getting an assembly ticket from Haryana. She again contested the MC elections in 2016 and was elected from Ward No. 2 (Sectors 12, 14 and 15).
Her contender Gurbax Rawat, who has remained a deputy mayor, represents Ward No. 9 (Sectors 39 and 40).
Meanwhile, the BJP has nominated Ward No. 3 councillor Ravi Kant Sharma (Sectors 16, 17 and 22) for the post of senior deputy mayor and Ward No. 25 councillor Jagtar Jagga (Manimajra) for the deputy mayor’s post. They will contest against Congress councillors Sheela Devi (Ward No. 5 — Sector 25) and Ravinder Gujral (Ward No. 15 — Sectors 34, 35 and 44), respectively.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the BJP has nominated Ward No. 3 councillor Ravi Kant Sharma (Sectors 16, 17 and 22) for the post of senior deputy mayor and Ward No. 25 councillor Jagtar Jagga (Manimajra) for the deputy mayor’s post. They will contest against Congress councillors Sheela Devi (Ward No. 5 — Sector 25) and Ravinder Gujral (Ward No. 15 — Sectors 34, 35 and 44), respectively.
{{/usCountry}}What went in her favour
The foremost reason for the party to place its faith in Malik is the support of her fellow colleagues.
As many as 14 out of 20 party councillors had backed her candidature during one-on-one meetings with BJP Chandigarh in-charge and national vice-president Prabhat Jha on Saturday.
Sources said the central leadership did not want a repeat of the previous two mayoral elections — which saw the party’s own councillors filing nominations against the official candidate — and went with the most-favoured councillor.
That was one of the main reasons why the BJP dropped councillor Heera Negi, who till Sunday was the front runner, as not many councillors were interested in her candidature.Although, there was an attempt by BJP councillor Chandrawati Shukla to file her nomination papers as an Independent this time, local party president Sanjay Tandon managed to pacify her.
Malik’s links with Jat leaders in Haryana too worked in her favour, as they are said to have lobbied to ensure her candidature. In fact, her family has links within both the BJP and Congress.
She is also considered close to MP Kirron Kher, who too backed her candidature. The Tandon camp councillors also came out in her support.
After the nominations, Tandon said the party will comfortably win the election as it has more than the requisite number of votes. Kher said Malik is experienced and she will definitely carry forward the city’s development.
Malik, while thanking the party, said she would do her best to serve the people as the city mayor.